I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 536 The Problem of Subordinate Officials
When Li Zhizao heard this, he was immediately flattered.

"Your Majesty can remember me, I am very grateful."

Zhu Youxiao also laughed and praised a few more words. Without saying anything else, he immediately asked him to introduce the specific situation of Beiyuan.

"Your Majesty, Beiyuan mainly teaches Western studies. The content is arranged and planned by Your Majesty. It mainly teaches Western astronomy, geography, natural history, research on things, etc. Among them, there are three Western teachers, and I, Ming Dynasty, teach two."

These subjects were set by Zhu Youxiao at the Imperial College, and Zhu Youxiao was not surprised when he heard about them.But now that he has seen the north and south divisions, he has always had doubts in his heart.

That is, since the north and south are divided into different classes, students in the Imperial College should also study in separate subjects.

Li Zhizao immediately shook his head when he heard what he said.He had thought of this method before.But after thinking about it carefully, I feel that it is definitely not feasible.If teaching is divided into subjects, it will definitely cause divisions among students, which is very inconsistent with the original intention of offering Western learning lectures in the Imperial College.

Liu Zongzhou, the imperial wine worshiper at the Imperial Academy, also thought the same way. He always felt that even if he taught Western learning in the Imperial Academy, he would be nothing more than a vassal of Confucianism and even Chinese learning.If they teach in separate subjects, wouldn't it prove that the two are on par and have the same status?

Therefore, after discussion between Liu Zongzhou and Li Zhizao, they decided to let students practice both, but in a more flexible way, using the credit method.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial College does not teach classes in separate subjects. As for what to study, the Imperial College also has regulations. Students have two choices: compulsory and elective courses. There are six compulsory courses in total, namely classics and meaning, law, literature, arithmetic, and geography. The remaining subjects They are all elective courses. Students can study according to their interests. There is no limit on the subjects and number.

It's just that no matter what you study, you will be assessed every month, and the points method will be used. Those who are excellent in the required courses and vocabulary will be considered superior and will be scored two points.Those with excellent reasoning and average scores will be rated as average (and vice versa), and one point will be added.Those who are excellent in both theory and speech in elective courses will be considered superior and will be awarded one point.Those with excellent reasoning and average scores will be rated as average (and vice versa), and half a point will be added.In the final year-end total, those with more than sixteen points will be promoted to one level, with a limit of forty.

The supervisory students are also divided into three levels: junior, intermediate and advanced.The ratings of third-class students are all based on credits, but upper-class students have the highest treatment, and only they are eligible to participate in the examination. "

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he nodded immediately and thought this proposal was a good one.

The credit system seems to be something only heard about in later generations.But in fact, China has already had it, and the Imperial College also adopted this method before.

But now it has been changed, and there are two types of elective and compulsory courses. This way, students can be required to learn subjects prescribed by the imperial court, and students can also be encouraged to learn what they are interested in.

However, the content of the compulsory and elective courses is biased. The compulsory courses are mostly Confucian, and the elective courses are mostly Western.

But even so, Zhu Youxiao was already satisfied. For him, it would be a surprise if he majored in Western studies, and he would even issue an edict to revise it.Because reform or change comes step by step and cannot be achieved overnight. Now as long as Western learning can enter the Imperial College, it is a big progress.

But Zhu Youxiao was also a little confused.

I just heard that the supervisors will be graded, and only the superior supervisors can take part in the imperial examination.But if the four-year period expires, what will other lower-level students do?

When he thought of this, he immediately looked at Liu Zongzhou and Li Zhizao, and expressed his doubts.

But Liu Zong had already answered this question on Tuesday. After hearing this, he immediately raised his hands and said:
"Your Majesty, although junior and intermediate students are still unable to participate in the imperial examination, it does not mean that they have no future. For these students who cannot participate in the imperial examination, after completing their studies, they can be recommended by the Ministry of Household Affairs or the local Chief Secretary to participate in the Taiwan Constitutional Examination , either as a local teacher, or as a government or county official."

Prefecture and county officials.

Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but think after hearing this, isn't this just delegating these people to the grassroots level.

It's just that the grassroots level in the Ming Dynasty was completely different from that in later generations.The officials of these prefectures and counties are generally held by local hereditary powerful men, with low and powerful positions. The first thing the county magistrate does after taking office is to establish a good relationship with these people, otherwise he will not be able to command at all.

But now if all the remaining people from the Imperial College are devolved to the local areas to serve as state and county officials, wouldn't this situation be slightly changed?

However, he also had a doubt in his mind, that is, officials and officials had been separated for many years, and it would not be easy to implement this matter, so he asked slowly:

"Our dynasty has always valued officials over officials, and scholars all regard the imperial examination as the right path. Most of the state and county officials are subordinates. If this is implemented, will anyone be willing to go?"

The Yuan Dynasty used officials to govern the country, so after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, this was taken as a lesson. They believed that officials were corrupt because subordinate officials valued profits over justice. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, they never had a high opinion of subordinate officials, and even deliberately suppressed them.

But as soon as he finished speaking, before Liu Zongzhou and others could respond, Zhao Nanxing, the Minister of Civil Affairs, took the lead to stand up.

"Your Majesty, this matter was discussed jointly by Wei Chen, Sun Shangshu and others with the cabinet."

"Oh, then tell me."

Zhu Youxiao did not reject this approach, but he found it difficult to implement it.But now that I saw that Zhao Nanxing, the Minister of Civil Affairs, had initiated this matter, I immediately knew that something should be done about it. "Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty has more than 1000 taels of counties, which can be said to be the foundation of our Ming Dynasty. However, according to my understanding, the magistrates, county magistrates and other officials personally appointed by the imperial court in a county are only a dozen people. . There were about a hundred officials writing other classics, loose books, etc., while the number of government servants ranged from 500 to 400. These people were either hereditary or working as corvees, and the imperial court had no jurisdiction at all.

It is precisely these subordinate officials who have the largest number of people and know the local conditions best.As a result, subordinate officials deliberately deceived superiors and subordinates, condoned breaking the law, obeyed the imperial edicts, and even ignored the imperial officials.What they rely on can be summed up in one sentence, that is, the county magistrate is inferior to the county management, the county magistrate is iron-clad, and the county government is smooth.

Therefore, the ministers and others discussed that the subordinate officials must be strictly disciplined. This is why the ministers and others came up with this idea.Since there were too many subordinate officials, the court could not take charge of every one of them, but the court could still intervene in the appointment of the heads of the six houses of the county government. "

When Zhu Youxiao heard this, he was also wondering whether this was feasible or not.

The cabinet had reported this matter to him before, but he was busy with many things to do and had too many wars, so he let the cabinet decide on its own.

But now that he saw it being implemented like this, he felt that it was a little too hasty.When Zhao Nanxing and others on the side saw the hesitation on the emperor's face, they immediately looked at Liu Yishui, Sun Shenxing and others for help.

"Your Majesty, the cunning and corrupt officials are beetles in one town, in one province they are beetles, and in one department they are beetles all over the world. In the past, there were many cunning and corrupt officials in Jiangnan who were in arrears with wages. The reason is that the Wanli Dynasty did not appoint officials. , resulting in a vacancy of state and county officials, which allowed these cunning and corrupt officials to do whatever they wanted.

Although His Majesty has selected and appointed talents since he succeeded to the throne, he has changed his previous policy and allowed officials to do their jobs and perform their duties.But this problem was not solved. Many officials appointed by the imperial court came to serve in the county, but they repeatedly encountered difficulties.Therefore, we came up with this method, which not only can deter subordinate officials, but also make it easier to issue government orders. It can be said that it kills multiple birds with one stone. "

After listening to Liu Yishen's words, Zhu Youxiao also nodded slowly.

Power does not disappear, it only shifts.Since the imperial court had weak control over local areas, other organizations would naturally fill the gap.

This gap can be caused by subordinate officials or local powerful people.Rather than this, it would be better for the court to intervene and control it itself.

"Well, what Liu Aiqing said makes sense, so let's just deal with it like this."

"I will obey your orders!"

After saying this, Zhu Youxiao continued to stroll around Beiyuan.Although Beiyuan is much smaller than Nanyuan, fortunately, it is relatively complete in both east and west.

There are all kinds of world maps, astronomical telescopes, clocks and other things inside, and the Catholic missionaries who came here to teach even brought some books, which can be regarded as filling in a lot of things.

And the Western teacher invited here, Zhu Youxiao, is also somewhat familiar with it.One of them was Yangmano, a Jesuit missionary who was highly accomplished in astronomy.

After this person came to Ming Dynasty, he has been helping Tang Ruowang translate Western books. He has already published three books on astronomy, and his Chinese is also very good, so he was invited by Li Zhizao to teach astronomy knowledge.

After Zhu Youxiao heard this, he specifically asked Li Zhizao to invite Yang Manuo over, ready to praise him.

But just after Zhu Youxiao finished speaking, someone suddenly walked out of the Imperial College team, knelt down to Zhu Youxiao and shouted:

"Ni Wenhuan, a doctor in the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Imperial Academy, has the original notes."

Zhu Youxiao was stunned for a moment, wondering why this happened again.But Ni Wenhuan started talking directly before Zhu Youxiao could speak.

"Your Majesty, our government has its own regulations. Western missionaries can come to our country to live or communicate with us. However, they must not preach at will. However, Yang Manuo, a Western missionary in the Imperial College, took advantage of his time as a student in the Imperial College to set up a private sacrificial hall. Western Buddhist deity.

He even explained Western teachings to the students of the Imperial College, intentionally or unintentionally.This practice completely violates His Majesty's prohibition and the court system. Please be aware of it and punish it severely! "

When Li Zhizao heard this, he was immediately stunned and secretly thought that this Ni Wenhuan was really ambitious.

Zhu Youxiao was also slightly surprised, but what surprised him was not that Yang Manuo preached in private, but that Ni Wenhuan actually said these words in front of him. He had obviously been prepared for a long time and was waiting for him to complain.

"There is no evidence for what you said, so you must not say it in vain."

Ni Wenhuan had already guessed what the emperor said. Hearing this, he immediately took out a question book from his sleeve, raised it high above his head and said:

"Your Majesty, what I said is true. The details of Yangmano's mission have been written down in the title book. There are also students as witnesses. Your Majesty will know it as soon as you check it. I dare not hide anything."

　There are three updates today. The second update is around [-] o'clock, and the third update is after [-] o'clock. Let's work hard!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)