Regardless of Zhang Fei's appearance or not, for Zhao Xu, this reform of the official system is imperative. It is conceivable that the reason why Wang Gui submitted this memorial must have been instructed by Zhao Xu.

There are three main reasons for this.

First, the emperor has grown up and has his own ideas. He wants to make his own decisions and no longer wants to hide behind Wang Anshi.

Secondly, Zhao Xu wants to realize his political ideals, and his political ideals are actually two wars, against Xixia and Liao. Of course, the main one at present is against Xixia. He can't see a way to win the Liao Kingdom for the time being.

hope.

But no matter what, to do this, we must unite the whole country and make the whole country act according to its own will. In other words, we must control the power. Whether it is Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty or Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, both have this aspect

preparation.

However, Tang Taizong himself was a military genius, so his preparations were relatively easy.

The third is to streamline officials, improve efficiency, and reduce financial expenditures to lay the foundation for future mobilization.

Of course Zhang Fei was aware of Yuanfeng's restructuring, which had a very significant impact on the system of later generations, but was somewhat obscured by Wang Anshi.

However, this situation has changed now.

Historically, before Yuanfeng's reform, Zhao Xu broke the old order through Wang Anshi, and then he came out to lead the reform himself. In other words, he had already gained power at that time, and all the opposition such as Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang were eliminated.

, which also includes Wang Anshi.

It is different now. There is a balance of power between the DPRK and the Central Government. Wang Anshi did not dominate the government and the opposition. Not only were Sima Guang and others not demoted, but they also gained greater power.

And this is all because of the emergence of the Public Security Bureau.

However, the Public Security Bureau also provided Zhao Xu with another path for restructuring.

That is to use the Public Security Bureau and the Procuratorate to carry out official reform.

In fact, no matter how the official system is changed, the essence is still the power of the monarch and the power of the prime minister.

Taizu Taizong's establishment, Zhenzong, and Renzong decentralized power, resulting in two situations in the current Northern Song Dynasty court. First, the organization is bloated and the efficiency is very slow. Second, the power of the prime minister is too great, because the officials of the three provinces currently do not have real power, and all of them are

After listening to the political affairs hall, the prime minister would discuss matters with the emperor. The emperor could not directly give orders to the three provinces.

The combination of these two points resulted in the emperor's decree being circulated in the three provinces without the Prime Minister's nod.

This is why the Ordinance Department of the Second Government was established. Here was Wang Anshi. During this period, the new government decrees were all directed to the Ordinance Department of the Second Government, which was equivalent to bypassing the Government Hall and the three provinces.

But the establishment of the Ordinance Department of the Second Government must be only a temporary structure. Otherwise, Wang Anshi's power will be completely out of control. A group of prime ministers have the final say over there, but he alone has the final say here.

This is just a temporary plan. If the power of the prime minister is weakened, it will still be through official reform.

But if the organization is streamlined, the power of the prime minister will be further expanded, because the power of the prime minister is getting bigger and bigger, and the bloated organization is also restricting them.

How to limit the power while streamlining the organization is really something that needs to be done.

Historically, Zhao Xu, who held great power, simply and crudely returned to the three-province system. Currently, it is the second-government system, that is, the Government Hall and the Privy Council. Returning to the three provinces would be equivalent to cutting the Government Hall into two parts.

Third, it was placed in the three provinces, so that the three provinces faced the emperor directly, which indicated that the emperor would come to the front and directly participate in government affairs instead of going through the prime minister, and at the same time streamline the organization.

But facts have proven that if only the phase power is divided, the efficiency not only does not improve, but also decreases. The reason lies in the division of phase power.

In the past, decisions all came from the Political Affairs Hall, and the prime ministers all discussed matters together. The three provinces took orders directly from the Political Affairs Hall, so they could respond quickly to emergencies.

Divided into three, each takes care of his own thing. If there is a slight flaw, he has to hand it back, let alone argue with each other, and it starts over and over again.

To put it simply, if Wang Anshi approved the decree, could Sima Guang pass it for him?

In addition, Yuanfeng's restructuring did not involve deep plowing at the local level. The central government made several changes, and the local level had to work for a long time. Can this efficiency be high?

Is this a case of having your cake and eat it too, or is Zhao Xu's original intention to centralize power and improve administrative efficiency?

Only Zhao Xu himself knew this.

However, now with the birth of the Public Security Bureau, a new kind of checks and balances has been born within the country.

It is the separation of politics and law.

It will definitely not follow the historical process, and the future will become unknown.

Although Zhang Fei also understood the administrative system, what he understood was the system of that era. If he copied it, the result would definitely be a head-scratching move. This could only be done by Zhao Xu and the prime ministers.

He would wait and see for a while, and then make comments if it was not conducive to the public security, prosecution and law.

...

Zhao Xu couldn't wait any longer, because there was a large-scale rotation of officials this year, and he wanted to take advantage of this rotation to start moving to the front desk.

After talking with Zhang Fei, Zhao Xu invited Wang Anshi.

"Sir, please look."

Zhao Xu handed a memorial to Wang Anshi, "This is from Wang Yuyu of the Hanlin Academy. I think it makes sense. I wonder what you think, sir?"

Wang Anshi took it with both hands, sat on the chair, opened it and took a look, his brows gradually darkened.

After a while, Zhao Xu asked: "Sir, do you think it's inappropriate?"

Wang Anshi put the memorial together and said with a little disdain: "I think that the current reform against redundant officials has been completed very well. Many officials have already joined the Public Service Department, so there is no need to rush it."

It was still an educational tone.

Zhao Xu frowned secretly, but did not show it. He smiled and said: "I am not acting too hastily, but seeing that the integration of the Judicial Office has been so successful, I heard from the people in the Imperial City Division that the judicial officials even

It can travel faster than officials from the three provinces, so why not use it for other government offices?"

Wang Anshi said: "I don't deny it, and I'm not against this. I just think that the situation is getting better and rashly return to the three provinces and six ministries system of the Tang Dynasty. This is unpredictable. After all, the situation in the Tang Dynasty is different from that of our dynasty."

The situation is very different. For example, take the Third Division and the Ministry of Household Affairs. Given the size and authority of the Ministry of Household Affairs, it is impossible to replace the Third Division. In the same way, the Ministry of War cannot replace the Privy Council.

In my opinion, each government office should be allowed to perform its duties first, and then the redundant government offices should be eliminated, and then the system should be standardized according to the specific situation. There is no need to follow the "Liu Dian of the Tang Dynasty"."

Zhao Xu was silent for a while, then nodded, "Sir, what you said makes sense."

After a pause, he asked again: "There will be a large-scale rotation of officials this year. What do you think, sir?"

Wang Anshi was stunned for a moment, "Just rotate as usual."

The prime minister came and went, but he was still able to handle affairs in the political hall.

Zhao Xu frowned and said: "But the reform has not yet been completed. If the councilors and political affairs officers are rotated as usual, I am afraid that the reform will be delayed. It is better to restore the powers of the six ministries first and let the councilors and political affairs officers continue to reform the reform in the six ministries."

Wang Anshi was slightly startled. He just objected. You are going to restore the six parts again. Didn't you turn a deaf ear to my words? He glanced at Zhao Xu and suddenly realized that this was not an ordinary conversation. He immediately became cautious and nodded:

"That's okay."

Zhao Xu's words have a hidden meaning. This is for reform. If you don't agree, there will be problems with the reform.

Zhao Xu asked again: "Sir, have all the new laws been promulgated now?"

Wang Anshi's heart skipped a beat, and he said truthfully: "At present, there are mainly the laws to protect armor, the laws to protect horses, and the law to change the market, which have not yet been promulgated."

Zhao Xu said: "I will put the armor protection method on hold for now. I think we can train an elite division through the Royal Police."

Regarding this point, Wang Anshi had already seen through it, so he never promulgated the law of armor protection, so he nodded and said: "I obey my order."

Zhao Xu sighed again: "Now I want to streamline the officials and reduce the harm of redundant officials. However, some people in the court have been talking about setting up the Ordinance Department of the Second Prefecture. They think that in addition to the Second Prefecture, there is another Second Prefecture. This streamlining of official offices has never stopped.

How can we talk about it, and the current obstacles between the DPRK and China on the New Deal are not as great as before. I believe that Mr. Sir can implement the new law even in the political hall."

Wang Anshi's 10,000 straw and mud horses rushed towards Zhao Xu, but he immediately said: "The establishment of the Ordinance Department of the Second Government was originally established temporarily, and now it is time to abolish it."

Zhao Xu smiled slightly and said: "I am very grateful to you for your understanding of justice. But you don't have to worry. You can recommend officials to establish the Ordinance Department of the second government to enter the three provinces and six departments, including Sinong Temple and Taifu Temple.

It will be merged into the Ministry of Household Affairs and reforms will continue."

"I obey."

Wang Anshi cupped his hands.

In fact, as early as half a month ago, Wang Anshi had a premonition that this would happen. He felt that Zhao Xu would no longer obey his words, but he did not expect that it would happen so quickly and so violently.

Even the Ordinance Department of the Second Government was abolished.

Having said that, of course the Ordinance Department of the Second Government must be abolished. It was originally a temporary organization, but he did not expect it to come so soon.

After leaving the house, Wang Anshi felt a sense of loneliness in his heart. He looked up and sighed, waving his sleeves and walking away.

Only an hour later, Sima Guang came to this hall again.

"Recently, some ministers have used judicial reforms to impeach me, playing tricks of power, nepotism, and exclusion of dissidents."

The first words he said frightened Sima Guang out of his mind, "Your Majesty, I have been wronged. I don't know who is trying to frame me."

Zhao Xu replied: "It's Cai Que, the censor."

"Cai Que?" Sima Guang was stunned, and then asked: "I wonder what evidence he has?"

This really happened so suddenly that he couldn't even react!

Zhao Xu said: "He said that Xianggong led the judicial reform at the beginning and threatened to separate politics from law. However, the public security, prosecution and law were always controlled by Xianggong, and Xianggong participated in political affairs. Therefore, he believed that this was not a separation of politics and law at all, but Xianggong's intention to monopolize public security, prosecution and law."

After saying that, he handed the memorial to Sima Guang.

Sima Guang stood up and took it with both hands, returned to the chair, opened it and read it. After a while, he closed the memorial and said, "Your Majesty, what Cai Yushi said is reasonable. It is true that because of the minister, he did not fully implement the political and legal affairs."

Separation, but I don’t want to monopolize the public prosecutor’s office, nor do I have any selfish intentions.”

There is a saying that Sima Guang did hinder the separation of politics and law to a certain extent. Sima Guang belonged to the Political Affairs Hall, the first administrative department of the Political Affairs Hall. At the same time, he controlled the public security and the law, and he also shouted the slogan of separation of politics and law, which led to other
To be continued...