"I think this system could work: the Three Departments and Six Ministries, the Nine Courts and Five Directorates... The only problem is, we don't seem to have enough people." Shen Tang flipped through the intelligence reports, muttering as she searched.
To ensure the stability of her power and position, the senior posts would certainly have to go to her own people. But her staff had always been lean, nowhere near enough to fill all the positions. Even though she had recruited a batch of talent before the new year, they were still in their "internship period"; their abilities and character would need time to assess and verify. For now, her approach was to streamline the staffing of each department, cutting all nominal posts and redundant officials until only substantive positions remained.
As for overlapping responsibilities, she would leave those alone for the time being.
"Would twenty positions in the Secretariat be enough?"
Qi Shan's face darkened. "How could that possibly be enough?"
Even after streamlining, the Secretariat would need at least forty or fifty people, wouldn't it?
With only twenty positions, did the Sovereign expect all twenty people to have Three Hearts, Two Minds? Take one person's salary while doing the work of three? The Secretariat had to draft edicts, formulate regulations and policies, and handle all the memorials and reports submitted from every corner of Kang.
Had she considered what the result would be?
Shen Tang looked surprised. "It's not enough?"
Then she counted on her fingers. "The Director of the Secretariat, Secretariat Vice Ministers, Secretariat Drafter-Officials, Right Palace Attendants, Right Remonstrance Officials, Right Court Rectifiers, Right Remonstrance Assistants, Imperial Recorders, Court Communicators... And then there are the clerks, pavilion attendants, and other subordinates..."
According to this volume of intelligence, there was one Director of the Secretariat, two Secretariat