Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2378: The Wind Within (V)
After solving the problem of bad debts caused by the inability of the Jurchens to repay the court for coal supply after their surrender, the only issue left to deal with in terms of keeping warm this winter is "housing".

Gao Youshi knew that the Ming Dynasty had always been too "Hayekian" in some matters and had always lacked grassroots organizational capabilities, so the gentlemen present probably didn't have any good ideas to come up with, so he simply made it clear himself.

"Housing issues have always been the most common problem during snowstorms. In previous years, countless houses collapsed during snowstorms and ice disasters. If each household repairs the houses on their own, they will either be unable to do so or be too slow to meet the urgent needs, and people will inevitably freeze to death.

Some people may say, isn't this commonplace? It has always been like this in every dynasty. What can we do? Everyone, it has always been like this, so is it the only way to go?"

Gao Youshi's face was serious, and he spoke word by word: "Mencius said: As for the way of the people, those who have permanent property have permanent heart, and those who have no permanent property have no permanent heart. If they have no permanent heart, they will indulge in evil and extravagance and do whatever they want.

Now that the holy emperor is in power and the four barbarians are coming to pay tribute, the Ming Dynasty should let these new people know that this is the Heavenly Dynasty! Therefore, this cabinet has already decided to use two strategies to deal with the people's difficulties caused by the white disaster this winter, such as collapsed houses, collapsed roofs and broken beams. You can help me find out the missing parts and make up for them, so as to achieve the best. "

When discussing clothing and heating, Gao Fusi would let everyone discuss first, and then he would summarize the discussions and issue orders. But on the housing issue, he did something unusual and said "it has been decided" right away, and only asked everyone to "check for omissions and fill in the gaps." This means that he expected that there would be opposition on this matter, and that there might be considerable pressure.

The officials present were all experienced officials, so they certainly understood the situation and exchanged glances privately. Of course, everyone also knew that Gao Youshi's current position was unshakable, and he was also the Minister of Revenue. If he insisted on spending a lot of money to do something abstract like Emperor Yang of Sui's silk wrapped willows, he would have to bear the final pressure, so everyone kept silent and just waited for his next words.

Gao Youshi said: "One strategy is to organize the people in Liaodong and other newly annexed areas at the most basic level, such as villages, settlements, and forts, to form 'mutual aid teams'. The establishment of these 'mutual aid teams' aims to mobilize the people to jointly deal with the impending white disaster, which is mutual assistance.

Every village, hamlet, and fort must have its own mutual aid team to coordinate and mobilize manpower to ensure that they can act quickly and help each other when disaster strikes, not only to repair houses but also to deal with other urgent difficulties that require concentrated efforts to ensure the safety of local people and villagers. "

After Gao Youshi said this, many ministers frowned, but everyone looked at each other, and no one dared to speak for a long time. In the end, Shen Yiguan, a cabinet minister who had given up, came out and accused Gao Youshi of not understanding the people's sentiments.

"The Prime Minister loves the people like his own children. I deeply admire his kindness. However, the Prime Minister probably hasn't been back to his hometown for a long time, let alone visited the people, so..." Shen Yi Guan sneered and shook his head, saying, "This mutual aid team overlaps with the baojia system, so why should we set up another one? Wouldn't it be better to let the baojia systems in various places take on the role?"

Haha, you, Shen Yi Guan, know about the Baojia system, but don’t I, Gao Youshi, know about it? Although I am not the nominal president of the Wanli edition of the Ming Dynasty Code, I am the main writer. Don’t you, Shen Ge Lao, know about it?

Gao Fusi chuckled and said leisurely, "The Ming Dynasty's Baojia system is recorded in detail in the Hui Dian, and the chief author of the book happened to be this cabinet minister."

If he hadn't mentioned this, others would have really forgotten about it. After all, Gao Youshi's most outstanding ability over the years was not "paperwork", but commanding troops and managing finances. When he said this, everyone knew that Shen Yikuan was probably going to be ridiculed again.

As expected, Gao Youshi continued, "The baojia system has many uses, but its core functions are in three areas: establishing organizations, managing household registration, and maintaining public order.

The Baojia system of our dynasty was divided into regions, and each Baojia was managed by a Baojia head. The Baojia head was usually a prestigious local gentry, responsible for organizing militia, maintaining public order, and collecting taxes.

Through household registration, the baojia system can manage and grasp the basic situation of local people, which is convenient for conscription, taxation and other tasks. At the same time, the flow of population is managed, and people who go out need to register with the local baojia head to prevent population loss and the generation of refugees.

The head of the baojia was responsible for organizing and directing the militia patrols to prevent bandits and other criminals from invading. At the same time, he supervised and managed the people in the area to prevent them from engaging in illegal activities.

After a pause, Gao Youshi asked, "Is there any mutual help here?"

There really wasn't any, but Shen Yi Guan had already thought of an excuse when he said the above. He just nodded slightly and said, "There really wasn't any, but what I'm saying is that we just need to let the baojia also serve as the mutual aid team."

Gao Youshi shook his head and said, "Then why doesn't Lord Shen think about it? Since our ministry knows the role of the baojia, why don't we let the baojia also serve as the mutual aid team?"

Shen Yikuan was speechless for a moment. He really had not thought deeply about this issue. He just intuitively felt that the baojia system already existed, so there was no need to do anything unnecessary.

Gao Youshi saw this and continued, "Lord Shen, although the baojia system is good, its core lies in management and control, not mutual assistance and self-help. What we are facing now is natural disasters and white disasters. What we need is spontaneous mutual assistance and solidarity among the people to reduce the burden of the court's governance, rather than top-down management and control - after all, you all know that since ancient times, the imperial power has not been extended below the county level. This cabinet decided to set up grassroots mutual aid teams in order to stimulate the spirit of self-help among the people, so that the people can support each other in the face of disasters and overcome difficulties together. This move can not only form mutual aid organizations at the grassroots level that specialize in responding to disasters or temporary dangers, but also avoid the court's in-depth intervention, so as to avoid wasting huge amounts of money.

Everyone, if the baojia were allowed to do this, tell me, would the baojia leaders in various places have a preference on who to save first, who to save later, or even who not to save? Or would they use this power to gather the strength of the entire village, the entire hamlet, and the entire fort to repair and build houses for themselves first?"

Gao Youshi's words made all the ministers present fall into deep thought. Many of them were from the countryside and were not completely ignorant of the actual situation among the people.

On the one hand, they also knew that in the face of disasters, official rescue often failed to arrive in time, while mutual assistance among the people was the most direct and effective. On the other hand, Gao Youshi's suspicion was more like a direct attack on people's hearts - there must be many baojia leaders who would do that.

From this perspective, Shen Yiquan's ridicule of Gao Youshi for not understanding the grassroots is really a big joke. Gao Yuanfu's words make people doubt whether he himself has been a baojia head.

However, Shen Yi Guan was not so easily convinced. He continued to question, "What Yuan Fu said is of course not without reason, but I have a question: If the head of the baojia also serves as this post, there will be the above disadvantages. Then, can the mutual aid team avoid the above disadvantages by doing things on its own?"

"It is unrealistic to avoid it completely, but it is better than having the baojia head take on the job part-time." Gao Youshi said bluntly, "The baojia head already has considerable power. Giving them more will only increase their authority among the villagers. Even if there are some illegal actions, I am afraid that few people will dare to resist.

On the contrary, the duties of the mutual aid team are much simpler. When something happens, they gather people to help each other, and when the matter is over, they disperse. There is no hidden danger of holding a certain power for a long time. Moreover, the mutual aid team only has the responsibility of helping each other, not the power of punishment, so the villagers do not have to be respectful to the leader of the mutual aid team... Everyone acts according to the laws of the court and is kind in daily life, so why should we be afraid of you? "

Logically speaking, Shen Yikuan should not be able to find any point to criticize the mutual aid team, but this would underestimate the ability of an old hand who insists on being a nitpicker.

"Since we have no power to punish, if the local villagers are unwilling to obey, then this mutual aid team is just in name only?" Shen Yi Guan shook his head and said, "I am afraid that the country folks cannot understand the good intentions of the Prime Minister!"

In fact, when they argued to this point, they were arguing about the meaning of "Man is born good" or "Man is born evil" - although not directly.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Gao Youshi's intention is to inspire the "kindness" among the villagers and form a good atmosphere of mutual help; Shen Yikuan believes that most of the common people are materialistic. When I am in trouble, I hope others will help me, and when others are in trouble, I hope everyone will leave me alone.

Gao Youshi certainly knew that this kind of philistine mentality was not uncommon, and even everyone had it, but the guidance of social atmosphere could never rely on slogans alone, and someone must rush to the front and set an example - "Follow me" is always more effective than "Follow me". This is why his party always required that "Party members must go first" when faced with difficulties.

If you yourself are not willing to go, why should the people go?
"Since we cannot punish them, we need to reward them." Gao Youshi said calmly, "I intend to add another category to the honors, called 'righteous men', to reward those who are not rich but have been doing good deeds for their neighbors over the years. We can discuss the specific reward measures later. However, this cabinet must also say in advance that there must be restrictions on the selection of 'righteous men', and those with more than 100 acres of land cannot be selected."

All the officials were surprised, but after thinking about it, they felt it was quite reasonable. At least in theory, this "righteous man" could indeed play the role of rewarding the advanced and guiding the social atmosphere towards a better direction.

Xiao Liangyou immediately came out to help, saying: "This is a very good move. With this encouragement, the people will all put goodness first, so why worry about the country of gentlemen being far away!"

As the Minister of Rites, Yu Shenxing would certainly give his full approval at this time, and he also said: "The civil officials are respected by the people for their good governance, the military officials are respected by the people for their defense of the country, and the rich are respected by the people for their kindness. Then how can the people respect themselves? Now the Prime Minister has made it clear to the world: just do good."

At this point, it has actually reached the point of Confucianism: the ideal country of gentlemen! Yuanfu's actions, to put it in a broader sense, are no longer limited to "making the king as great as Yao and Shun", but "making all the people become gentlemen". How can we oppose this? So everyone expressed their approval, and for a while, the voices of praise were everywhere, almost blowing off the roof of the cabinet meeting hall.

"Moreover," Gao Youshi stretched out his hand to stop him, and continued, "the establishment of the mutual aid team will not affect the implementation of the baojia system. On the contrary, it can serve as a supplement to the baojia system, allowing the baojia head to have a force to organize and mobilize the people to save themselves while managing. In this way, the two systems can be implemented simultaneously, which can not only make the court system effective, but also correct the root cause and enable the people to benefit each other."

Shen Yi Guan could only nod his head at this time and said, "It is still the Prime Minister who has thought it through. I was too careless just now."

"Then, what about the second strategy that Yuan Fu mentioned?" Yu Shenxing asked. He was already more interested in Gao Youshi's proposal.
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PS: We will talk about the second strategy tomorrow. I have wasted too much time eating the melon about Yoon Seok-yeol’s abstract operation today…

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