Zhao Bing's rule began in Qiongzhou. At that time, there were not many generals and few officials, so he could only rely on clerks to govern the local area. In practice, he found that the places where old officials were in charge of the government were not only stable in the local area, but also smooth in government orders, and whether it was collecting taxes or collecting civil servants, they could be completed quickly. On the contrary, the prefectures and counties under which officials from the Jinshi were in charge of the government were constantly problems and it was difficult to carry out the work.

From then on, Zhao Bing realized that as specific staff in government offices at all levels, the clerks were only ordered to deal with all trivial matters, and it seemed impossible to do a great job. Little did he know that it was these seemingly trivial matters that formed the basis of the rule of the feudal state, because any policy or law of the state would eventually be refined into various specific measures and implemented by the clerks. Without the participation and efforts of the clerks, no matter how good the decree was, it would be nothing more than a piece of paper.

It is precisely because the clerks' familiarity with the allusions of laws and regulations that they play an important role in ensuring the implementation and implementation of various laws and regulations. Officials, regardless of whether they are willing or not, have to rely on these officials who write and write. Why is this happening? In fact, it is very simple, because officials from the imperial examinations cannot do business as grassroots civil servants at all. They can write eight essays, recite poems and perform taxes on them, collect taxes, and case-based cases, and have to hire teachers to coordinate, not to mention professional jobs such as canal transportation, warehousing, and accounts. They are simply not aware of anything.

In this sense, the role of clerks in feudal bureaucracy is indispensable and cannot be denied. Moreover, the status of officials determines that it is difficult for them to have an in-depth understanding of the pain and needs of the common people living at the bottom of society. Even local officials called "people-friendly" are affected by the system of term of office and avoidance, and it is difficult to have an in-depth understanding of the actual situation of the district or department in which they serve. Every time they go to, they are surrounded by a group of clerks, not only to care about their duties, but also to understand the sufferings of the people.

The clerks are not the case. Most of them come from poor and innocent families. Some of them come from educated classes, but they are unable to enter the official career because of their dissatisfaction or lack of knowledge and become civil servants. A few clerks have also been officials. They were either dismissed due to misconduct, or lost their positions under extremely unusual and large-scale layoffs. They came directly from the people, so they had a deeper and more intuitive feeling about the current social situation and the suffering of the people than ordinary officials.

As the court moved to Qiongzhou, a large number of officials moved with him. Zhao Bing's understanding of clerks became deeper. They were engaged in the specific practical work of their department and performed various tasks assigned by their superiors. Their functions and service and affairs were more prominent. Specifically, such as managing documents and accounts, observing warehouses, supervising taxes, maintaining social security, and doing errands and tricks, it can be said that clerks are spread throughout government organizations at all levels and are a force that cannot be ignored.

But after Xu Zongren's explanation, in the Song Dynasty, the status of officials and clerks with official ranks was not promoted but was reduced. They were simply disqualified from the qualifications of joining the emperor. Scholars and officials with lower ranks than theirs could enjoy such honors. They even explicitly prohibited the central and local officials and clerks from taking the imperial examinations, and even the chance to change their destiny was killed.

Zhao Bing couldn't help but become a dark man. Assuming the real thing about "Water Margin", Song Jiang, a minor official in charge of the officials, really wanted to be a Wude official, Chuzhou appeasement envoy and military chief, there was no possibility of rebellion and whitewashing. Of course, Wude official's title of "Water Margin" indicates how many levels of cadres appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the latter two positions did not conform to the system of the Song Dynasty at all. It was purely because Old Man Shi had a brainstorm and should not be taken seriously...

"Haha, I understand a little. When I was in Qiongzhou, I placed those officials in various prefectures and counties, and even villages served as clerks. They did not object. Now that I have arrived in Lin'an, someone has spoken out. It seems that I have regarded that as a "strategy"!" Zhao Bing took a sip of tea and smiled.

"Your Majesty's thoughts are not the same. When you first arrived in Qiongzhou, you were in panic, and you were worried that you would be cut off and you would have no choice but to live. Your Majesty can find a place to settle down for them, and you are too grateful to them, so you would not object. What your Majesty said was just a solution!" Xu Zongren thought about it and said.

"Shangshu Xu is outspoken. However, the facts prove that my idea was right at that time. After entering Jiangnan, these officials were ordered to guard the country. They could govern the local area without the help of clerks, and the court also benefited from it. Isn't it worth inheriting and promoting?" Zhao Bing praised and said afterwards.

"Your Majesty has something unknown. It is not Qiongzhou who wants to include clerks in the orthodox career!" Xu Zongren said politely, "When Wang Jiefu was the prime minister to preside over the reform, he also included clerks in the official salary system and was subject to heavy punishment. On the other hand, he proposed that those who served as officials should first serve as clerks to learn the details of government affairs, and at the same time improve the status of clerks, and want to include them among the rank of officials."

"Oh, it's already there, since..." Zhao Bing was a little surprised when he heard this. He thought it was his "advanced experience". Unexpectedly, he still followed the footsteps of the previous generations, but he quickly felt relieved. Isn't the system of the later generations also coming from the experience of the previous generations? He originally wanted to say that since this system has been established, it would be easier to deal with it accordingly, but then he thought that this system must have been deposed long ago, otherwise how could there be any problems at this time? He shook his head and smiled.

"After Wang Jiefu was demoted, the matter was not settled. Later, the court believed that there were too many officials and too many officials, so he ordered Su Che, the secretary of the Secretariat, to cut it down. When it was difficult to lay off the prisoners, a minor official Bai Zhongfu said: In the past, only a dozen officials were selected, but now the ministers selected dozens of officials. If the matter was as old as before, and the use of several times was several times, there was no heavy law and heavy salary in the past. If the officials were to be entrusted with bribes, they did not want people to be divided into more places, so they worked hard and did not refuse. Now they practiced the heavy law and gave bribes, and the bribes were less than the old ones, so they did not avoid more people. Fortunately, they had less work. This was the great affection of the officials."

"Well, I understand a little!" Zhao Bing nodded. Although Xu Zongren was obscure, he also heard that the meaning was that the result of reforms in a timely and local manner was difficult to form a system. He quoted the words of minor officials and pointed out the disadvantages. The meaning was that although the salaries of officials were low in the past, they did not follow the heavy punishment, so they all accepted bribes, so they did not want others to come in and share the weight, so there were only a dozen people in the staffing; now although the salaries have been improved, there were heavy punishments and they did not dare to accept bribes, so they were eager to come in to prepare and share them, so that they would not be idle.

The most fundamental reason why this policy was abolished by successors is that it involves the essential problem of the imperial power - the literati system, which is what is the guiding goal of this system? The answer is, for stability. It is surprising, but it is so wonderful. The core of stability lies in distribution. The first-level vested interests perform secondary distribution, which can be legally transferred or gray rent-seeking. This is a structural problem and can even penetrate to the bottom of society. In this system logic, "waste" and "ine efficiency" are necessary because they are also the source of the next-level distribution.

But when the organization itself has not undergone major changes, such poaching is inevitable. Whether it is officials or officials, it is a virtue. Confusing the boundary between scholars and officials is actually to break the original distribution pattern and transform the organization into an efficiency-oriented organization. At this time, what needs to follow the changes is not just a temporary matter, such as the treatment and supervision of officials, but the operating logic of the entire society. To be successful, the cost is a change, either economic or political. Otherwise, these efficiency has nowhere to be released, and it can only be the end of the Qin Dynasty's prosperity and death.

"Your Majesty, after returning to Jiangnan, current affairs have changed, and some people want to mention the old things again and restore the old system." Seeing that the little emperor had already understood the root cause, Xu Zongren sighed lightly.

"Shangshu Xu, you are an old minister of the three dynasties and are familiar with the affairs of the previous dynasties. Do you think it is not good to use the king's and prime ministers in those days?" Zhao Bing asked in a tentative manner.

"Your Majesty, I think that although the king's system cannot completely eliminate stubborn diseases, it can also eliminate the shortcomings of the officialdom and clarify the administration of the government." Xu Zongren said with a serious expression.

"The disadvantage of clerks lies in the fact that the officials are strong and weak, and the officials do nothing!" Zhao Bing said. He had never seen what the corruption of the dynasty's administration was like, but he heard a lot. From the teachings of several gentlemen to the court officials, he could be said to be endless, but few people proposed effective solutions.

In fact, he thought that clerks were a very unique group. Although they worked in government offices, they were still "common people" and were supervised and restricted by officials everywhere, and their salary was small or even no salary. As common people, their family background was not very wealthy and they were inevitably bullied by local tyrants. Therefore, clerks, especially cunning officials in local government offices, often flatter officials to seek protection and collude with local forces to obtain greater benefits.

The bureaucrats and scholars stood on the ruling class and criticized the illegal behavior of the clerks, one-sidedly exaggerated the negative influence of the clerks, and ignored their positive role in national politics. In society, they even "used slaves and treated them with thieves". Their status was lowly and prostitutes and slaves, but they also held the real power of social management. At the critical moment, they could decide life and death in one sentence.

Zhao Bing thought this was unfair. Strong officials and weak officials were caused by political, economic, cultural and other factors. In terms of political factors, the Song Dynasty was established after the Five Dynasties wars. In order to effectively consolidate its rule, the rulers of the Song Dynasty gathered power in one place, so that the central and local departments, the central and local departments were restrained by each other, and the superiors and subordinates were in a hurry to rest assured in everything. Many issues in all aspects of society had to be ordered to the dynasty, which to a certain extent caused the complexity and change of policy measures.

The increase in the number of officials in the Song Dynasty and the huge team was the direct reason for their increase in power. The complex number of officials not only caused people to be overly involved and administrative efficiency. Due to the strengthening of centralization and the expansion of bureaucratic politics, as a relatively independent political force, it became more active on the political stage. It also made it easier to build the party and cultivate private forces, forming a group of forces to maintain its political status. Because fundamentally speaking, the ever-changing and complex bureaucratic political operation mechanism caused the huge team of officials and clerks.

"Your Majesty hit the nail on the head, officials have been afraid of officials for a long time. They look down on their subordinates, but they are quite dependent on them. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are afraid and hateful." Xu Zongren agreed with a smile and said, "Some officials are in order to control the officials themselves and do not be bullied. They place strict punishments and laws on their own, but they are often difficult to solve and even retaliated."

"There are other things that happened? This is interesting." Zhao Bing smiled and moved his butt to show his very interested appearance.

"Without this, of course, they dare not kill Shangguan, but they have done a lot of secretly. Some clerks said goodbye at the same time, so that there was no one standing in the yamen and no one to take care of the official duties in a county; or some clerks complained to the superior government, deliberately creating trouble to force officials to resign; and even worse, they secretly collected the bad deeds of officials and waited for an opportunity to retaliate, and so that there were many officials dismissed from prison!"

"Haha, a freshman Confucian scholar, who has no political experience and no ability to handle government affairs, can beat those old officials who have been extremely slick in the officialdom? Even if they sell them, they will still help count the money!" Zhao Bing could imagine the officials who were controlled by the cunning officials, who looked angry and helpless, and couldn't help but smile.

"Alas, the court has assigned officials to officials, and officials to officials, and they have to implement them. Therefore, the quality of the governance depends on the efforts of the clerks, and the quality of the political achievements is closely related to the officials' career and future, which has led to most officials not daring to control officials, and even if the clerks do illegal things, they may collude with each other, causing the public to be resentful. The reason is that the officials do not understand government affairs and rely too much on the clerks." Xu Zongren said helplessly, perhaps remembering that he had been teased and bullied by clerks.

"I have also seen an official sigh in the book: Today's officials are not feudal, but officials have feudalism. It was not too late before. Now I heard from your family that I realized that it was too much but not enough!" Zhao Bing said with a wry smile. Of course, what he said about feudalism is not feudalism in feudal society, but feudalism that was inherited by the princes and inherited from generation to generation. The implication is that officials have become officials, but officials have become "worldly positions" passed down from generation to generation, which is "the great harm to the world."
Chapter completed!