Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 102: Governing a country means governing officials
In the selection of officials in the Ming Dynasty, all three types of officials, Jinshi, tribute and official, can be used as officials.

Jinshi is easy to understand, which means that after obtaining the title of Jinshi, you have the qualifications to be an official.

Jugong refers to the promotion of people and tribute students. Juren is obtained through the provincial examination. Gong students are divided into yearly tribute, selected tribute, enggong and paid tribute. They are usually students and tribute supervisors. After studying in Guozijian, they are qualified to serve as officials.

Therefore, gongsheng students are usually included in the supervisory students together with other supervisory students who are qualified to serve as officials.

In addition to the tribute supervisors of the students, there are also the supervisors of the candidates, the supervisors of the descendants of high-ranking officials, and the supervisors of the donations.

Among them, Yinjian is divided into official students and ensheng, and it is as easy to become an official as juren and Gongsheng——

Together, these people are called tribute officials.

When the Ming Dynasty was founded, due to the shortage of talents, there were often Juren and Jiansheng who were from Jugong family as high-ranking officials.

However, now that the imperial examinations are highly developed, those with Jinshi origins have long been dominated.

Officials from other backgrounds will be ostracized by Jinshi in the officialdom and find it difficult to be promoted to high-ranking officials, let alone be recommended by the imperial court.

Therefore, Yuan Keli felt that there would not be too much opposition from outside to the transfer of officials who were not from Jinshi every six years.

Those officials who were civil servants, tribute students, and civil servants could not influence the court's decision-making at all.

The only one who can make some noise is the prison outside them——

These people are also not Jinshi. According to this system, they need to move every six years.

Their own voices may be small, but their fathers were mostly court ministers.

Failure to take care of the emotions of these people will affect the functioning of the court.

So Yuan Keli asked:

"Enyin civil servants, are they transferred according to their non-Jinshi origin?"

"Relocating every six years is a bit harsh on them."

Zhu Youjian didn't like Yin officials very much, otherwise he wouldn't have made the first move to reduce expenditures and target officials who sent salary. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty did not have too many favors, and it was not like the Song Dynasty where officials were redundant.

Considering that favor is a reward for meritorious officials, the treatment cannot be too bad, otherwise it will cause objections to senior officials in the court.

After Zhu Youjin thought about it, he said:
"Those who receive Wenyin are considered to be non-Jinshi officials and will be transferred once every six years."

"Those who obtain the military yin will be moved every five years as military attachés."

"Nowadays, most of the civil servants are Wuyin. They can be allowed to serve in the Ministry of War, Jinyiwei, and Weiwei Temple, and they will be transferred every five years."

This is one approach, but it's still a bit harsh. After all, not all civil servants can obtain Wuyin based on their merits. Most of the children of civil servants can only study in prison.

Therefore, Yuan Keli requested to give these people a way out.

Zhu Youjian thought hard and thought of a way. He was inspired by the fact that Zuo Zongtang was specially awarded to be a Jinshi and said:

"If officials who are not from the Jinshi background have achieved special honors, I can give them special honors from the same Jinshi background."

"The transfer time is the same as that of officials born as Jinshi, and is no longer fixed at six years."

This was indeed a way, but Yuan Keli was keenly aware that this devalued the status of Jinshi and increased the emperor's power, so he immediately said:

"Jinshi should not be given lightly. Your Majesty, please set a quota. The number of officials with the same background as Jinshi should not be too many."

"Jinshi studied hard in the cold, and we must understand their hard work."

Jinshi are the main body of civil servants, so Zhu Youjian must of course take care of their emotions.

Moreover, he was also worried that arbitrary rewards might lead to an overpopulation of military officers, and he hoped that those people would become military attachés, so he said:

"Let's set it at ten, no more than ten every year."

"For outstanding officials who are not from Jinshi background, they will be given the same background as Jinshi."

"In the future, all officials including Juren, Supervising Students and Yinxiang will be transferred to military positions and will be transferred once every five years."

Yuan Keli agreed to switch to a military position, but the quota of ten per year was still too many. Yuan Keli didn't think that non-Jinshi scholars had so many talents, so he suggested:

"The Civil Service Examination is held every three years. Your Majesty can set a quota of ten places for three years."

"Those who reach a certain standard based on their political achievements will be specially awarded to be from the same Jinshi background."

Of course, Zhu Youjian was unwilling to rank them entirely based on their political achievements. In that case, all the quotas would be in the hands of the officials, so he immediately said:

"Ten quotas in three years are too few, and awarding them only after one exam every three years is too rigid."

"I think we need more places, specially given to officials who have achieved special honors."

"For example, Yuan Qing, your son has not yet been admitted as a Jinshi. If you have achieved special honors, can't I give him the same background as a Jinshi?"

"Would the ministers in the court object to this?"

"Let's discuss this matter in the court and decide it together with the ministers."

After all the talk came to this, Yuan Keli could only agree to increase the number of places——

Otherwise, he would be an enemy of his own son, or even the sons of other ministers, and attract criticism from them.

Zhu Youjian increased his influence on ministers by regulating the transfer system and rewarding Yin officials by birth.

This made him very happy. After all, there were no restrictions on the transfer of officials in the past. After Zhu Youjian made restrictions, he then relaxed restrictions as a reward. Between this contraction and release, I gained a power——

For him, it was a complete surprise.

Moreover, the special gift of having the same Jinshi background also allowed Zhu Youjian to appoint some officials who were not Jinshi, such as Mao Yuanyi, whom Yuan Keli once recommended, and other talents:
Xu Guangqi's disciple Sun Yuanhua concentrated on Western studies and failed to pass the Jinshi examination.

And Song Yingxing, who wrote "Tiangong Kaiwu", was just a scholar.

Li Zicheng's mastermind Niu Jinxing and general Li Yan were also Juren.

If they really can't pass the exam, they will be given the same background as Jinshi in the future to facilitate their service. This is what Zhu Youjian can remember, but there are many others he doesn't remember. It’s not that non-Jinshi people don’t have talents, it’s just that the scope is too broad, like finding a needle in a haystack.

Now that there are several clear goals, as well as the policy of specially granting people with the same Jinshi background, Zhu Youjian can recruit them and let them work for him.

In the future, the science and engineering talents he trained can also use this policy to enter the court and serve as officials.

After successfully deciding on the transfer policy for candidates, supervisors, especially officials and en-sheng, Zhu Youjian thought about the officials again. He remembered that Yan Yingyuan, who guarded the city in Jiangyin, was an official. These people also need to be given policies, so he said:

"Governing a country means managing officials. Proper etiquette, justice, integrity, and shame are the four dimensions of a country. If the four dimensions are not open, the country will not be a country."

"If officials are shameless, corrupt, and misbehaving, but the court does not regulate them, the world will definitely be in chaos."

Setting this tone, Zhu Youjian said:
"The Ministry of Personnel must not only regulate the transfer of officials, but also regulate the staff."

"I heard people say that many local officials have been inherited from generation to generation, and there are even some subordinate officials who dare to sideline officials."

"Yuan Qing has served as a local official. Have you ever seen such a thing?"

This is a larger topic. After thinking about it, Yuan Keli said:
"There are some illegal officials, but it's rare for officials to stand up for themselves."

"The promotion and demotion of junior staff is all at the whim of the officials. They dare not go too far."

"When an official becomes a replacement after serving, it is also under the control of officials."

Nodding slightly, Zhu Youjian said without asking in detail:
"Public officials are a big issue. How officials control them and make them work diligently for the government is a test of their abilities."

"So magistrates, chief envoys and other officials who govern local areas should be selected from among the county magistrates and promote magistrates with years of merit."

"It is best for the six ministers and ministers to have experience as grassroots officials, such as recommending officials and county magistrates."

This was to improve the status of county magistrates and appease their dissatisfaction that they would not be able to be promoted to Ke Dao in the future. The situation of inferring parallelism will still not change.

As a former official, Yuan Keli could not oppose this policy. He also heard the emperor say:

"From now on, from the ninth rank below, there will be nine levels of officials."

"Level one is the lowest, and level nine is the highest."

"But the ninth-level officials are no longer called officials, they are called officials, and they are awarded to ninth-level officials."

"Subsequent official transfers will be treated as officials who are not Jinshi."

This is regulating the transfer of officials, Yuan Keli asked:

"How often do officials move?"

"How should it be assessed?"

Zhu Youjian said:
"Civil officials take exams every three years, and civil servants take the same exam every three years."

"The assessment is carried out by the personnel department of the local government office. The assessment is conducted every three years. Those who are qualified will be promoted."

"The Literary Selection Department of the Ministry of Personnel and the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War should work together to classify the levels of civil servants and determine the corresponding treatment and pay."

"Starting from the age of twenty, civil servants can be granted the status of first-class civil servants. Twenty-four years later, when they are forty-four years old, they can be granted the status of ninth-grade official."

"After becoming officials, they can serve as auxiliary officials, but like officials, they must abide by the avoidance system and be transferred away from their place of origin. Officials who are not Jinshi are transferred."

"The meritorious officials will also be awarded annual merit to reduce the grinding time. If they have made great achievements, I will give them the same background as Jinshi and let them study in prison and then serve as officials."

This gives officials a way out but also imposes restrictions.

Yuan Keli thought for a while and felt that it might be feasible. He didn't care much about the affairs of the officials and asked:
"How are the officers of the Ministry of War transferred?"

"Should it be based on the civil service exam taking place every three years, or the military attache taking the exam every five years and transferring every five years?"

Zhu Youjian said:
"All officials are relocated every three years."

"The Ministry of War should use more military attaches. After the hereditary hundred households and trial hundred households have been reduced to three ranks, they should be appointed as nine-rank officials and nine-rank officials."

"Those low-status but very important positions, rather than being held by petty officials, it is better to designate them as the ninth rank or the ninth rank and let military attaches hold them."

"These people, we can call them civilian officers, also move every five years."

"It is necessary to select more literate people to serve as civil officers, such as candidates, supervisors, and shady officials."

This also gave a way out for the jurenxuansheng. The military attache was demoted to the third rank to serve as a civilian officer, which also helped to solve the problem of the military attache's rank being too high. Yuan Keli fully agreed with this.

Then he thought of the scholar who was ranked among the best, and asked:
"Are officials with scholarly background the same as ordinary officials?"

"They are knowledgeable and should not be treated as ordinary civil servants."

Zhu Youjian thought about it and said:

"Officials with a scholarly background can be called civil servants."

"Civil officials are also tested every three years. Those who are over twenty years old are appointed. Those with the title of scholar are directly awarded to fifth-level officials."

"In this way, it only takes twelve years for them to be promoted to the Ninth Rank. If they perform meritorious service, they can study in prison after reaching the seventh level. After completing their studies, they will be awarded the Ninth Rank as a casual official."

As he spoke, Zhu Youjian thought of the judicial arithmetic exam again and said:

"In the future, not only scholars, but all literate people, as long as they pass the Judicial Examination of the Ministry of Punishment and the Numerical Examination of the Ministry of Household Affairs, can serve as civil servants, and will be awarded third, fourth and fifth-level officials based on their performance."

"Officials should be as literate as possible and understand the law and arithmetic. We should use more civil servants and officers and sergeants who have been converted to civilian positions, and reduce the number of hereditary officials."

Modeled on the civil service examinations of later generations, the judicial arithmetic examination was used as a civil service examination to supplement the imperial examination.

Yuan Keli, as an official with imperial examination background, fully agreed with this. I feel that it is also necessary to take examinations for civil servants and let literate people take up the positions.

The monarch and his ministers discussed for a long time and roughly decided on the policy of relocation of officials who were not Jinshi.

(End of this chapter)