In order to govern the dynasty, Ouyang Shuo had been making a lot of moves recently.
Other than gathering the hundred schools of thought to formulate the ideology of Yan and Huang in an attempt to unify the thoughts of the world and declare orthodoxy, he also formulated the Civil Code, Commercial Code, and Criminal Code to perfect the legal system of Great Xia and affirm the fundamental position of legislation in the governance of the dynasty.
The supervision system of Great Xia was divided into two parts.
The two parts were the Mountain Sea Guard, which was responsible for intelligence in the Huaxia region, and the Black Snake Guard, which was responsible for intelligence in the overseas region. The two parts were the Censorate, which was responsible for the imperial court, and the various supervisory offices (departments) of the internal affairs system.
Both the Mountain Sea Guard and the Black Snake Guard had finally taken root and stabilized with the support of a large amount of funds. There was no need for any major changes.
Therefore, Ouyang Shuo mainly adjusted the Censorate.
Previously, the supervisory office had been changed from a single line of leadership by the Censorate to a dual line of leadership by the Censorate. This strengthened the supervision and impeachment of officials at all levels.
"But this is far from enough!"
The Censorate was responsible for the imperial court and was responsible for the supervision of hundreds of officials. It only kept an eye on the imperial court and could only rely on the supervisory office to complete the supervision of the local yamen. It was unavoidably a little powerless.
However, the imperial court and the officials in the capital were all top historical talents. On the contrary, in the process of integrating into Great Xia, the local yamen had reorganized many old officials. Some of them were good and bad, and they were heavily affected by corruption.
What Ouyang Shuo wanted to do was to make the Censorate lower and achieve full coverage of the yamen at all levels.
In the first year of the Tang Dynasty, the Censorate was changed to the Left Censorate, which was responsible for the supervision of the officials in the capital and the military. The right Censorate was responsible for the local supervision.
Later on, the Left Censorate could also supervise the local areas.
Every year in spring and autumn, the two stations would send special envoys to inspect the prefectures and counties. Those sent in spring were called Custom Envoys, and those sent in autumn were called Integrity Envoys. In the first year of the Shenlong era, the Censorate was changed to the Left and Right Censorates.
Ouyang Shuo wanted to follow the Tang Dynasty's practice, but with some improvements.
After discussing with the cabinet, the Censorate's adjustment plan came out very quickly. It mainly consisted of two aspects.
First, the Censorate would send imperial censors to the local yamen.
The governor-general's yamen assigned an imperial censor, the prefectural governor's yamen assigned an imperial censor, the prefectural governor's yamen assigned an imperial censor, and the county yamen assigned an imperial censor on probation.
The imperial censors at all levels could directly report to the higher ranks, and they were only responsible to the imperial censor of the previous rank.
Secondly, establish an inspection system of the Censorate.
Great Xia would follow the old system of the Tang Dynasty and send out special envoys to inspect the prefectures and counties of the world every spring and autumn. The envoy sent in spring would be known as the Custom Envoy and the envoy sent in autumn would be known as the Integrity Inspector.
This two-pronged approach greatly strengthened the supervision of the officials.
In view of this, the Imperial Censorate would undergo a new round of expansion. Outstanding officials from the imperial court or local yamen would be transferred to the Imperial Censorate.
Ouyang Shuo had said earlier that the officials selected for the Imperial Censorate had to be of high quality.
"If you do well, you can also be promoted first!"
For a time, the Imperial Censorate became the most popular institution in the dynasty. All the officials flocked to it, thinking that as long as they could get a position in the Imperial Censorate, it would be equivalent to having a protective talisman plated with a layer of gold. It was the only way to be promoted.
They could only say, "It's too early for them to be happy!"
The chief official of the Imperial Censor, the Imperial Censor, Wei Zheng, was a cold-faced judge. Together with Bao Zheng, the head of the Supervisory Bureau, who was also the Deputy Minister of the Imperial Censor, the combination of these two people was tantamount to declaring the Imperial Censor to be the Hall of Hell.
"Not just any little brat can enter."
At the same time, in order to ensure the authority of the Imperial Censor and to have enough confidence to supervise the officials, Ouyang Shuo proposed to invite the Imperial Censor, Wei Zheng, to enter the Cabinet, becoming the second Cabinet Elder after Zhang Liang.
This time, the Imperial Censor's back was completely straightened.
After the adjustment, the Imperial Censor was like a sharp sword hanging over the heads of the officials, forming a deterrent.
This was the good side of the Imperial Censor, but there was also a hidden worry.
In history, whether it was the Imperial Censor or the Imperial Censorate of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was a hidden danger. It was that the Supervisory Censor could easily become a weapon for the factions of the imperial court.
Through the impeachment of the 'loyal' Supervisory Censor, to defeat the enemy, was one of the common methods used by the civil officials.
In this way, the authority of the Imperial Censor would be lost.
More importantly, when the Imperial Censor was manipulated by the civil officials, it would also directly threaten the imperial power, causing the emperor to lose control of the officials. It was too dangerous, and it was easy for the civil officials to take over.
"The Supervisory Censor impeached for the sake of impeachment, which would be criticized by the people."
In response to this situation, Ouyang Shuo also had a solution based on the federal system, which was to make the Imperial Censor and the Interior Department more closely linked, so that they could help each other and restrain each other.
If the Imperial Censor discovered any evidence of corruption, it would immediately be handed over to the Interior Department for investigation. The Imperial Censor itself did not have the power to investigate. Once the Interior Department investigated and found out that the impeachment was not true, the Supervisory Censor would have to take responsibility.
A light punishment would affect the year-end assessment, and a heavy punishment would be immediate dismissal.
This way, to a large extent, it would prevent the Supervisory Censor from "abusing his power".
Throughout the entire process, Ouyang Shuo had never thought of involving the Mountain Sea Guards and the Black Snake Guards. He wanted to use these two spy organizations to supervise the Imperial Censor, just like how the Ming Dynasty's spies governed the country.
For an organization like the Mountain Sea Guards, if they were given too much power, they would not be able to do anything about it. They might even turn around and bite Ouyang Shuo, their master, or cause trouble behind his back.
This was what Ouyang Shuo had been trying to prevent.
Even if the Mountain Sea Guards led by Shen Buhai were absolutely loyal to Ouyang Shuo, Ouyang Shuo would gradually tighten the authority of the Mountain Sea Guards so that they would focus on intelligence gathering instead of secretly supervising the officials.
Ouyang Shuo's ultimate goal was to let the dynasty system operate smoothly under the sun.
This was how a new dynasty, a great dynasty that was prepared to carry the mission of the rise of the Huaxia Civilization, should be responsible and broad-minded, instead of hiding in the dark to spy on everything.
The only thing that could be passed down for hundreds of generations was the system.
Today, as the founder of the dynasty, Ouyang Shuo could restrain the Mountain Sea Guards. When Ouyang Shuo abdicated, how could he guarantee that this poisonous snake would be trusted by the new master and not cause trouble?!
Therefore, no matter what, this was a huge hidden danger that had to be prevented in advance.
...
Unify the thinking, perfect the code, and strengthen supervision.
Ouyang Shuo pondered over the various problems that would arise as the dynasty grew larger and larger, and finally took out these three axes. At the moment, they were only at the experimental stage. Once they were truly established, he believed that Great Xia would be very different.
Just as Ouyang Shuo was overseeing the capital and carrying out a bold and decisive reform of the dynasty, the Mountain Sea Guards suddenly sent news that there was an unusual movement in the north. This caused the originally peaceful situation in the wilderness to become tense.
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