Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Reducing the number of hereditary officials is something Zhu Youjian always wanted to do but did not dare to do:
This is someone's generations of wealth. If he dares to cut it off at will, there will be people who will fight to the death.

He was not afraid of simply using weapons to carry out assassinations, but he was afraid that these military officers would lose their hereditary positions and join forces with the peasants who had encountered famine, and develop into a refugee army.

The military knowledge these people possess will cause the refugee army to quickly transform and become as difficult to deal with as it was in history.

Therefore, he dared not arbitrarily abolish the hereditary positions of military officers, and even the military households had to be arranged a way out. They could not be displaced and had to join the refugees.

After Yuan Keli revealed his idea of ​​reducing military attachés, he immediately said:
"The redundant officials in each guard should indeed be reduced, but the court should not let those who have made contributions feel discouraged."

"Mr. Yuan, how many military officers do you think should be retained by each guard?"

"It is necessary to ensure that the court will still have enough officers when some hereditary officials become ill, injured, or sacrificed and no one in their family serves."

Yuan Keli originally wanted to suggest reducing the number of redundant military officers according to the quota, but when he heard the emperor say this, he couldn't help but think about it.

It is true that there are redundant military attachés, but if the quota is fully met, there will be a shortage.

It was common for military officers to be injured or even sacrificed in battle.

The court couldn’t force these families to send people into service.

They must be given enough time to allow the next generation to grow up.

During this period, their service responsibilities need to be replaced by other officials.

So he increased the number of military officers he retained and said:

"I think we should keep only a hundred hereditary officials, just like the three guards of Zhuolu."

"That way, even if there are casualties, there will be enough officers to serve."

"The number of hereditary officials in a thousand households is set at 493. With 359 guards and 56480 households, it is estimated that hereditary officials will be needed."

This number was still too much in the eyes of many civil servants, four or five times their number.

This is also the reason why many eighth and ninth grade minor officials were added after the current emperor ascended the throne.

Otherwise, there were only about 9,000 civil servants with ranks before.

Zhu Youjian frowned when he heard this number, because it meant that more than 40,000 military officers would be cut off at once.

Even if he came up with various methods, he could not place so many officials. He had to increase the number of hereditary officials retained by the guards:
"The thousand households have one fifth-rank thousand households, two fifth-rank deputy thousand households, ten sixth-rank hundred households, and two sixth-rank hundred households."

"The quota for military officers is fifteen. I think the garrison can be changed to trial centurions, and eight more trial centurions will be added, making a total of ten to be used to supplement the centurions."

"Two more thousand households and deputy thousand households will be added together, making a total of 25 hereditary officials."

"In this way, 359 hereditary officials can be retained in the 8975 guarding thousand households."

"The insufficient thousand households should be supplemented, and the surplus should be transferred over."

I heard that the emperor not only did not reduce the number, but increased the number of military officers in the Qianhu Suo to 25.

A number of civil servants reacted strongly, saying that the pressure on the court was too great.

Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan said:

"The trial of a hundred households is the sixth rank, which is equivalent to the Hanlin Academy editorship awarded to the top scholar."

"I think the treatment of military officers is too generous and their number should be reduced."

"Otherwise, when the imperial court changes its salary system to silver dollars in the future, it will not be able to afford the salaries of so many officials."

All the civil servants gnashed their teeth at this:

The rank of an official granted to a top scholar was only equivalent to that of a trial centurion, which was really disgraceful.

Many people think that the rank of military officers should be lowered, and the rank of a third-rank commander should be equivalent to a seventh-rank county magistrate at most. Didn't you see that the military and civilian guards established by the emperor were equivalent to counties?
It can be said that this is something Zhu Youjian had considered, but did not dare to implement it.

Previously, when he was reforming the Jinyiwei, he ordered that the hereditary officials of the Jinyiwei and Jinwuwei be demoted by three ranks, which was met with great backlash.

Many children of literary talent were unwilling to become minor officials of the eighth or ninth rank, thinking that they were just like the clerks of the past.

Even among military officers, it was only after Zhu Youjian transferred some outstanding chiefs of police stations in the capital directly to other places to serve as directors of the Weiwei Office that more and more hereditary officials gradually became willing to serve as minor officials.

Of course, more importantly, he established the fourth and fifth class Jinshi, as well as the vice list. These people all started as officials of the eighth and ninth ranks. The military officer's mind gradually calmed down.

Even the Jinshi could only be officials of the eighth or ninth rank. They could also start from the eighth or ninth rank with the help of their ancestors. What else was there to complain about?

Not to mention the emperor's promise that there would be no restrictions on their promotion before they reached the hereditary rank. As long as they reached the required qualifications, they could be promoted to a higher rank.

Therefore, in the past two years, more and more hereditary officials have been willing to serve in the Weiwei Temple.

Even those sons of literary talent who thought they would not be able to pass the imperial examination began to choose to serve as officials in the Weiwei Temple.

Just lowering the initial appointment level caused such a big backlash. Lowering their hereditary rank would cause an even bigger backlash.

Zhu Youjian didn't want to do such troublesome things, so he said:

"The rank of a hereditary official is actually harmless."

"After the reform of the garrison, hereditary officials will use their hereditary land as their salary. As long as they do not hold an actual position, they will not need the court to pay them salaries."

"When they are selected to join the guard or garrison camp, or to serve as a commander of a camp in the capital or on the frontier, they will also be demoted to the third rank like the Jinyiwei."

"Salaries are also paid according to the actual rank of the official, rather than their hereditary position."

This statement was a bit confusing, and the ministers thought about it for a while before they understood it through discussion. The emperor actually regarded hereditary positions as hereditary nobility and used hereditary land as salary.

People who only have hereditary titles but are not actually officials naturally have no salary.

Only after joining the army as an officer can you receive a salary.

After Yuan Keli figured it out, he said:

"Your Majesty's intention is to allow officers who do not join the camp to live in their own guards with salaries." "They will only use the hereditary land granted to them instead of the surplus food they used to receive in the guards."

This was a phenomenon that had long occurred among the military officers of the Ming Dynasty. Military officers were divided into two types: those who were in charge of official duties and those who were paid to perform duties.

Even if many military officers had actual positions, they still received salaries from their original guards and received money and food from the guards they came from.

Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty had many military officers, its finances were not crushed.

The burden on military households was really heavy, as each guard had to support one or two hundred officials.

Now, the solution proposed by the emperor is actually to reduce the burden on military households and prevent hereditary officials from withdrawing money and food from the garrisons.

From now on they can only rely on the harvest from their ancestral fields and the properties they have acquired.

How much tax the garrisons collect has nothing to do with them.

They don't even have the power to govern military households, and military and political affairs will be managed by civilian officers in the future.

Therefore, increasing the number of military officers will not increase expenditure. What needs to be given to them is the corresponding ancestral land.

In this way, the number of military officers could indeed be larger, as long as there was enough land to be divided.

Thinking of this, Yuan Keli said:
"If we follow this method, the garrisons with more land can accommodate more hereditary officials."

"But the number of hereditary officials should also be limited. I think the number of hereditary officials in each guard should not exceed 135."

"There are 10 commanders, and 25 people in each thousand-household unit."

This is indeed a lot more than before, but there is still more than 20,000 cuts to be made.

After Zhu Youjian thought about it, he said:

"The military pressure on the frontier garrisons is high, and the limit on hereditary officials is set at 150."

"For guards with more than five thousand households, they will be calculated separately."

"The number of commanders is limited to 12."

“It can only be lower than this number, but not higher.”

"If you exceed that, you will have to migrate overseas or beyond the Great Wall."

"You can go and open up your own territory, or you can go to the imperial guard post."

"We will need these worldly officials for future overseas development."

It would be fine if this method was not mentioned, but once it is mentioned, some people will have a headache. Those who just want to enjoy wealth and prosperity in the Central Plains are really unwilling to go overseas.

Even Yuan Keli felt that there were few officials willing to go overseas. Didn't you see that not many people went abroad after the imperial court's policy was introduced for more than two years?
So he said to the emperor:

"When hereditary officials move out of their original garrisons, they have to give up their family businesses that they have run for hundreds of years in the local area."

"I am afraid that the hereditary officials of the various guards are unwilling to migrate."

"Why not order the court to relocate some of the hereditary officials?"

Obviously, he intended to take on the resentment and move some hereditary officials out.

Zhu Youjian was touched by this, but he could not let Yuan Keli bear so much resentment.

So he said to Yuan Keli sincerely:

"It's not impossible, but it's a bit too rough."

"I think we should give the hereditary officials the right to choose, depending on their own wishes."

"If anyone is willing to go overseas to establish a fiefdom, I promise to follow the previous policy and grant hereditary commanders the title of hereditary viscount, hereditary thousand households and deputy thousand households the title of hereditary baron, and hereditary hundred households and trial hundred households the title of hereditary knight."

"The territory area starts from 10 square miles, and can reach up to 30 square miles, 100 square miles, and 200 square miles."

"There must be such hereditary officials. When the garrisons are restructured, they should be listed first."

"This way, we don't have to consider their future, we just need to arrange for other officials."

"If the number of hereditary officials left in a certain garrison does not exceed the limit, then everyone will be happy and there is no need to relocate others."

This is the ideal situation, but it is obviously not feasible in reality.

Because according to Zhu Youjian's estimation, it would be good if he could have several thousand people go overseas to establish fiefdoms.

There are also more than 10,000 hereditary officials who need to be resettled by the court.

Zhu Youjian also provided a way out for these people and further encouraged them to go overseas:

"If you are worried about the dangers of opening a fiefdom and don't want to take the risk alone, you can go to the overseas imperial guards. You can even follow the princes, dukes and other nobles as guards and serve as officials in those fiefdoms."

"In principle, after moving overseas, the rank of hereditary officials will be directly upgraded by one rank. If they have made meritorious contributions, they can even upgrade beyond the rank of thousand households and commander."

"Also, I allow them to make a second choice after five years. After adapting to the local environment, they can apply to establish a fiefdom in the surrounding areas."

This policy was obviously more generous than the previous policy of directly letting hereditary officials of the garrisons to establish fiefs. Not only could it improve the rank of hereditary officials, but it could also allow them to obtain larger fiefs in the future.

He could also adapt to the local environment with the help of the imperial court and then plan to establish a vassal state.

This would obviously provide a place for another group of people, and all the ministers nodded in agreement.

Finally, Zhu Youjian said:
"There are also some hereditary officials who actually don't want to be in the military."

"This time, I will lift the restrictions and allow them to become hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard."

"Except for the rank of the official, there are no other restrictions."

"If you want to be an official, you can join the army or the Imperial Guard. If you don't want to be an official, you can choose your own career and move freely to other places." (End of this chapter)