My British Empire

Chapter 279 continues local reforms

Meeting Rodney's eyes, the other three nodded quickly, with expressions of approval on their faces, and I echoed what you said.

Seeing this, Rodney smiled, and the tense atmosphere in the air immediately dissipated, and everyone became happy.

The act of screening in this way has begun throughout the city of London.

In and outside of London, a total of 264 hundred-household districts and 22 thousand-household districts obeyed the orders of the London City Government, began to screen people, and reported to the city government.

So, less than a week later, a total of 286 outstanding officials were assembled in the London City Hall, waiting for the final news from the city government.

The origin of this event originated from our King, the King of England, the young Edward VI.

The riots have been quelled, the whole of England has begun to maintain the general tranquility of the entire society, and the war has disappeared in England.

So, our Majesty the King, decided to start a huge political reform that has been talked about for a long time, the trend of the times-local system reform.

If we are not in England, we cannot appreciate the English people's indifference to the country and their stubborn love for their hometown.

That is to say, the people of England are only willing to pay attention to the affairs of their own region, and the largest scope has just reached their own county.

Moreover, this stubborn local sentiment has created a terrible consequence, the cohesion of the country is not strong.

Counties are like small independent kingdoms. Only the people in their own county are governed and protected, and it is difficult for people from other counties to interfere.

For example, in Kent County, 90% of the gentlemen are from Kent County, and only 10% are from other places, and most of them migrated by marriage.

If you use one sentence to describe the heart of the people of Kent at this time, it must be this sentence: Kent is the county of Kent.

This separation-like and independent-like tradition is not dangerous for England, which is unified as the same nation.

But if this tradition is maintained, it will be a powerful obstacle to the centralization of the king, and even slowly weaken the king's rights.

And this traditional custom of the English was brought to North America in the end, forming the narrow world view of Americans who only care about their own one-third of an acre of land.

So, at this suitable time, His Majesty the King, who had been patient for a long time, finally started his next reform.

Reform methods, Edward did not carry out comprehensive reforms in England in one fell swoop.

Instead, after studying the Great Heavenly Dynasty, gradually expand from point to surface. In this way, the pressure and resistance will not be reduced too much, and it will be relatively safe.

So, as an experimental site, Edward chose it in East England, an area where a riot had just occurred.

East of England: Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire.

These six counties were basically affected by the Robert Kate uprising, the area was a bit dilapidated, and the local power was slightly weakened.

So, our Majesty the King has made some preparations and started to carry out local reforms that will change England.

And this reform requires a lot of talents, but where can our Majesty the King find so many grassroots officials.

At the moment when he was confused, London, which had been reformed for a long time, was in front of him.

Thus, the London Municipal Government began to remove people from the 100-household district and the 1000-household district as the basic plan for reform.

So, referring to the later reforms of Elizabeth I, Edward made the following reform plan, let's call it the county guard system.

First, set up a sheriff in each county to exercise administrative power on behalf of His Majesty the King, and set up under the banner:

Personnel Management Committee: Examine, evaluate, appoint and record the members of each committee.

Household Registration Land Management Committee: Responsible for county land management, registration, review, and household registration change registration.

Committee of Industry and Commerce: Manage, supervise, review prices, and protect and promote industry and commerce.

Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Forestry Management Committee: deploy management, support and supervision for agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry.

After that, I won’t go into details about the six major committees, including the taxation management committee, the traffic management committee, and the security committee.

In contrast, the county lieutenant is in charge of the military power in the county, and the newly appointed supervisor is in charge of the supervision power, administration: supervision: military, the three are opposed to each other and check and balance each other.

In this way, coupled with the county court directly under the royal court and the hundreds of district courts in various places, the power structure of the county has been ingeniously balanced, and the power of the county has also been concentrated.

And, at the county level, reform and merge according to the original hundred-household district, and establish a hundred-household district and a thousand-household district. That is to say, if it is really realized, the king's power will extend to the depths of the countryside.

So, what is presented to us will be such a political structure map: village-hundred-household district-thousand-household district-county-king.

That is to say, the original two establishments of manor and town were eliminated and replaced by Hundred-Household District and Thousand-Household District.

The county centralizes power, and the center centralizes power from the local area. In this way, the whole of England will be deeply under the control of the king, and the possibility of being overthrown is extremely small.

The king of England will be the most powerful king in Europe, and the first country to centralize power and monarchy.

Some people say that it is precisely because of this relaxed environment in the United Kingdom that capitalism was born, and England became the hegemon after two years.

However, I want to say here that the absolute monarchy does not mean killing capitalism.

On the contrary, after the centralization of monarchy and centralization in European countries, domestic capitalism will develop vigorously, and the bourgeois revolution will be born.

Because, in this era, the monarch and the capitalists are in an alliance at this time, and they work together to deal with their common enemy-the feudal aristocracy and the local separatists.

For example, during the period of Henry VII and Henry VIII, they set up autonomous cities on a large scale and encouraged merchants to self-govern the cities, as long as they paid taxes on time.

And, they set up various laws to encourage the development of business.

For example, during the period of Henry VII, subsidies were given to shipyards, and ships with a tonnage of more than 500 tons were subsidized by one shilling per ton.

Moreover, he is also actively negotiating with various countries, discussing trade exchanges, and actively expanding the living space of English merchants.

And you must know that if Edward's reforms can be successful, then all counties will have the same tax rate, and business exchanges will be more active.

(end of this chapter)

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