"Speaker Ni, the matter is actually very clear, right? In the previous dynasty, although there were only more than ten formal officials in a county, in fact, the number of various non-staff officials and gangs was quite large. Please search and see the most comprehensively! The Ming Dynasty was indeed not responsible for the salary of these people, but how do you think these people rely on to support their families and even make a fortune?"

"These people, with the acquiescence of the court, rely on the local people to charge various fire and surplus, as well as various silver, fees, and other income. Because the court does not pay salaries, they acknowledge that these people will charge various fees in a clever way, and even extortion. For example, those who are in prison rely on extortion of money from prisoners, and some yamen runners specialize in the litigation, and after eating the plaintiff and the defendant."

"In short, the court did not pay much salary for officials, but in fact, in the late Ming Dynasty, there were at least 400,000 or 500,000 officials across the country. These people did not receive the salary of the court, but were still supported by the people. Even because there was no court's control, they could fish and feed the people, which increased the burden on the people. In particular, the court did not directly recruit and manage these personnel, resulting in a mixture of local officials and a variety of quality."

"In our Han Dynasty, the court directly appointed officials as civil servants, and was selected and appointed by the court, and paid salaries. Local officials were uniformly managed and reviewed by the court, ensuring the character and ability of officials. Officials were directly paid by the court, and with strict local supervision, there would be no officials extortion of fishing meat in the people, nor would they disrupt the market and disrupt commercial development. There would be less corruption and less tax evasion."

"Compared with the good local environment of the court and the guarantee of taxes, the salary of these officials paid by the court is actually nothing. This is just like doing business. How can you become bigger and stronger without investing capital? Without an excellent and sophisticated official team, how can you manage and develop a good place?"

"Or, Speaker Ni believes that the court should have only more than 20,000 officials in the country, and then one county will have 100,000 people. But there are only four or five officials, and a few officials are enough?"

Ni Yuanlu was asked some questions that could not be answered.

The clerks have had a bad reputation since ancient times. They say that clerks are as treacherous as oil, control local areas, corruption, fish and meat, and do evil. In fact, the big reason is that the court's attitude towards officials is simply left alone. From recruitment and selection to appointment and management, and even the distribution of salary, they are all a confusing account.

The court only thought about not spending money, but did not want the consequences of doing so.

Even in the early days, many clerks and others were still in the same service, and the people took turns to serve. After the Ming Dynasty, the whip method was released, and the people paid the money and the government paid the money and hired people to serve. However, the work and food were very small, and most of them only had six taels of silver a year. They had to deduct it. What could this amount of money do?

But many yamen runners and clerks will have a little power in their hands, so the result will naturally be that these people will cash in on the rent-seeking rights in their hands.

In fact, the cost is much greater.

It was just that the court's finances did not pay. But in fact, all the burden was passed on to the people, which also led to chaos in local officials and tense relations between officials and the people.

On the surface, the tax rate in the Ming Dynasty seemed extremely low. But in fact, the tax system was problematic. Rich people often did not pay taxes by borrowing various privileges, but the poor could not lose any of them. They also had to bear the corruption and additional responsibilities of various local officials. When there was a famine, the official not only did not help the disaster, but instead levy taxes tighter and even had to be levied.

Moreover, the taxes are often related. When neighbors flee famine, their taxes have to be shared with those in the map. The court collects taxes but doesn’t care about anything. They just support the royal court and officials, and raise soldiers and have to pay more money at any time.

Under such circumstances, the burden on the people in the Ming Dynasty was actually very heavy, and it can even be said that it was considered very heavy in all dynasties.

In contrast, during the Song Dynasty, although there were many taxes and the court also had problems such as redundant officials and soldiers, the burden on the people, especially ordinary people, was definitely lighter than that of the people in the Ming Dynasty.

For example, the Ming Dynasty could only be levied very little in one year, but in fact their rank was only used to support the royal court and officials. They would neither provide public services, develop education and medical care, nor do they have water conservancy facilities, and even provide disaster relief and famine relief. They would not even raise the army and solve the problem by themselves.

When it comes to the late battalion system, the annual military expenditure will basically be additionally charged.

The taxes collected by the court were even more unattended. Where did the money come from in the local administrative expenses, the salaries of officials, etc.? In addition to the regular tax, additional taxes are levied from the people.

Therefore, it means that the tax in the past is light, but in fact, various additional taxes, various additional taxes, etc. have long exceeded the regular taxes.

The 200 million yuan salary and expenditure items of the Han Dynasty not only included 200,000 civil servants, 150,000 military officers, 850,000 officials, but also 300,000 teachers, a large number of medical staff in public hospitals and health centers, as well as staff in state-owned enterprises. These are all for the financial supply, including 200,000 silver dollars a year, including these people. As for the salary of hundreds of thousands of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, they are listed in the military expenditure.

Among the major administrative expenditure projects, there are administrative expenditure projects of each yamen, such as the construction and maintenance of the yamen, food expenses, entertainment expenses, business trips, car and horse expenses, office supplies expenses, etc.

This expenditure budget table has a detailed project classification, and there are many small projects under each major project. The budget expenditure for each project is listed in detail.

The budget table is very good, including defense and military expenditure, administrative expenditure, education expenditure, health and medical expenditure, public service construction expenditure, transportation expenditure, etc.

However, Ni Yuanlu refused to admit defeat. If he really wanted to pick the bones in the eggs, he would always find out the problem.

He lowered his head and thought for a while, and finally found a question.

"For places where needed, it is naturally no problem to establish corresponding officials, but there are still many overlapping official positions and a large number of personnel. For example, the administrative divisions of the imperial court are mainly based on the four levels of provincial prefectures, counties and townships. There are also districts above the province, and there is a governor to command the military and political affairs of several provinces. This is no problem. However, there are also roads between provinces and prefectures, especially this road, which also has various names such as guards, patrols, military preparations, food roads, tea roads, salt roads, and river roads. These were originally set up in the Ming Dynasty and were administrative agencies sent by the governor."

"I think that in this dynasty, there is no need for institutions at this level. Just as the dynasty had previously abolished the state, it is completely enough for the provinces to be revoked. The provinces and prefectures are completely enough. There are many names of the Tao and overlapping powers. There is no need for them. The same is true for the responsibilities of each Tao to be handed over to the dynasty. But if it is revoked, it can save a lot of expenses."

The road is not a local government, but a derivative of provincial administrative agencies. It is specialized in certain affairs, such as river channels, grain channels, tea channels, salt channels, military preparation channels, etc.

Liu Jun smiled slightly while listening, and Ni Yuanlu really made a useful suggestion. In fact, Liu Jun was already preparing to remove all kinds of Taoist dynasties across the country. Taoist dynasties and the Governor were temporary dispatch agencies during the Ming Dynasty. The Governor was temporarily dispatched by the central court, and Taoist dynasties were sent by the governor to various places to be responsible for a certain type of affairs.

But now, the Governor of the Han Dynasty has become a permanent establishment and has a special district-level administrative unit. Although there are no corresponding various offices, it has led the military and political affairs of several provinces, as well as the governor of the governor of the province, which has made the position of governor an important part of the official system and division of the Han Dynasty.

But Taoist and Taoist are a bit useless. The governor is now the leader of military and political affairs in a province, the governor is the head of administration, and the province is the head of administration, and the province is the government. There is no need to set up Taoist affairs between them. Because the provincial government level is relatively stable, there is no need for temporary dispatch agencies anymore. After all, the Han Dynasty is no longer the various chaotic periods in the late Ming Dynasty.

Liu Jun has planned to completely remove Taoist and Taoist platforms.

Ni Yuanlu was still there, "I think there is no need to establish a township level at all. Throughout the dynasties, the imperial power has not been sent to the countryside. It would be better if there are villages and clan autonomy in the villages. There are more than 1,000 counties in the Han Dynasty, four or five thousand townships, and there are now 20 to 30 officials in each township level. If the township level is abolished, the officials can reduce by no less than 100,000. How much national fiscal expenditure will be saved?"

Liu Jun shook his head, Ni Yuanlu's eyes were still too shallow.

The imperial power did not go to the countryside. That was just the extensive management of the dynasty in the past. But now productivity has increased significantly, and management requirements are getting higher and higher. The officials of the court can no longer let it go, but must actively participate in local affairs. If the township-level institutions are abolished, it will definitely be more harmful than good.

Liu Jun will definitely not change this point.

In fact, in Liu Jun's opinion, the government's management of the world was the same as farmers' farming. In the past, there were many people and few land, and the production level was not high, so they could only manage extensively and harvest thin seeds. One person planted one or two hundred acres, and even if one acre was only a few buckets, they still had a good harvest.

But now, especially in Jiangnan, where there are many people and fewer land, the extensive management will make you less harvest. Therefore, everyone began to cultivate carefully. New farm tools use less land and buy bean cakes as agricultural fertilizers, supplemented with manure, wood ash, pond mud, etc., and carousel planting and other methods to make full use of the ground force. Even after the fields are fertilized, they can plant two seasons, or even two seasons of rice.

Even if a farmer only cultivates five or six acres of land, his income may exceed that of the 100 or 200 acres of extensive farming. The same is true for the imperial court to govern the world. Now that productivity is rising and the population is increasing, the economic form is no longer a single agricultural model, but a diversified model.

This has more requirements for the officials of the court, requiring them to play a greater role in management and guidance.

In the past, officials were always equivalent to owners or major shareholders behind the scenes. Their role was to collect some taxes, and they basically didn’t care much about the others. They wrote poems, read books, or even visited mountains and rivers every day. If someone knew to help him or her with famine, he would know how to try his best when he encountered some grievances. It would be very good, and he could be shouted at by the people.

Nowadays, Liu Jun hopes that they are all general managers, branch managers, and business managers. He hopes that they can understand the market, know the supply and demand relationship, and go to the front line of the market.

Such officials are what Liu Jun needs, not a group of officials who cannot even collect taxes except taxes.

Millions of officials and civil servants, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, dozens of teachers, doctors, etc. The Han Empire ate imperial grain and rely on finance to support the government may reach two or three million.

The country has a population of 300 million and three million people are supplied by the finance department, one hundred to one.

Perhaps people in this era will be extremely shocked, but Liu Jun thinks this number is acceptable. Compared with later generations, it has reached 18 to 1, and the ratio of pure officials and citizens can reach 1 to 28.

The key is not the number of officials, but the management level of this official team. To enable them to play their full role, they must have a sound supervision team.

Although today's dispute between the cabinet is a bit like a joke, it is still very commendable in some aspects. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!