too many government officials(shí yáng jiǔ mù)

too many government officials

Shiyang Jiumu, a Chinese idiom, is sh í y á ngji ǔ m ù in pinyin, which means that ten sheep are herded by nine people; it means that there are many officials and few people, and tax exploitation is very heavy; it also means that people are at a loss. It comes from the biography of Yang Shangxi in the book of Sui Dynasty.

The origin of Idioms

According to the biography of Yang Shangxi in the book of Sui Dynasty, "the so-called" few people, many officials, nine shepherds. "

Idiom usage

To be an attribute or complement; to be a multi leader. Yang Fu's words must be straight, while zongshangshu's words should be hidden and evil, which makes it difficult to do. Liu Zhiji's Shi Tong · narration in Tang Dynasty

Idiom story

During the northern and Southern Dynasties, Yang Shangxi of the Northern Zhou Dynasty served as an official in the three dynasties of Emperor Ming, Emperor Wu and Emperor Xuan. After Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty destroyed the regime replaced by the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yang Shangxi was also loyal and devoted to Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty. Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty restored the Han system and completely changed the ruling methods of the Xianbei regime in the Northern Zhou Dynasty to meet the wishes of the majority of the Han people. One of them is the re division of administrative areas and the establishment of States and counties. However, the number of prefectures set up in the Sui Dynasty was twice as large as that in the Qin and Han Dynasties. In some places, even less than 100 li in radius, several counties were set up. A small place with less than 1000 households was under the jurisdiction of two prefectures. In this way, of course, the number of government agencies increased correspondingly, the number of officials and officials doubled, and the various state and county systems were also numerous, which made the country overburdened. Yang Shangxi was deeply worried about this situation and reported his opinion to Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty: the situation of too many prefectures and counties is like nine herdsmen in ten sheep, which is totally unnecessary. The most urgent task is to keep the important counties and to merge the idle ones. In this way, the country still has so many regions and populations, and the annual income from rent adjustment, grain and cloth will not decrease, but the expenditure can be greatly saved. In addition, we can also arrange the talented people who can be used to the places where they are most needed, and the work efficiency will be significantly improved. In accordance with Yang Shangxi's suggestion, Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty abolished and merged many prefectures, and achieved good results.

Chinese PinYin : shí yáng jiǔ mù