I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 639: Even though it's remote, it doesn't matter
On the surface of the Yuan River between Luxi and Chenxi, three paddle boats were sailing upstream in a row.

Wang Yi'e stood on the bow of the boat, and the river breeze blowing towards him made his clothes rustle.

The green mountains on both sides are rolling and undulating, as if there were giants sleeping here since ancient times.

The vegetation on the mountain is layered like a green robe draped over a giant.

Some mountains are tall and steep, shrouded in clouds and mist, and from time to time the sounds of birds and monkeys can be heard breaking through the air.

The sunlight made the river water sparkle, and the sound of oars cutting through the water echoed on the silent river and between the towering mountains.

Looking at this picturesque scenery, Wang Yi'e was very interested: "Everyone, thousands of years ago, Qu Yuan went up this river.

"I left Wangzhu in the morning and stayed in Chenyang in the evening. As long as my heart is upright, even if it is far away, it doesn't matter. When I entered Xupu, I wandered around, lost and didn't know where to go. "

Wu Chengen said: "Wangzhu is a small bay where Wangshui flows into Yuanjiang River, south of Changde today.

Chenyang is now Chenxi. There is also this county in Xupu, on the bank of the Xushui River upstream of Chenxi. It is said that during the Chu-Han contention, Xiang Yu buried the Chu Yi Emperor here, so it is also called Yiling.

Wang Yi'e laughed, "Qu Yuan was filled with grief and despair because he lived in a chaotic era and the King of Chu was incompetent, so he lamented, 'Loyalty is not necessary, and virtue is not necessary. Wu Zi met with disaster, and Bigan was pickled and minced.'

Now the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is wise and wise, the court is brand new, and everyone is working hard to become stronger. Therefore, there is a great saying: "The sword is sharpened and sharpened. The sky is blue and the earth is yellow. Even if there are thousands of years, there are eight wildernesses. The future is like the sea, and the future is long."

Tang Kekuan said happily: "Every time I read the emperor's poem "On the Youth of China", my heart is filled with emotion. Yes, now our Ming Dynasty is undergoing a complete transformation and is brand new, so it has the youthful and vigorous appearance."

Quan Shenyong, Ren Boan and Yao Bingzhou looked at the scenery in front of them with excitement.

Liu Xian, the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Border Military Commission, had already left Luxi, went down the river to Changde, then turned to the Lishui River to Lizhou, went north to Zhijiang on the Yangtze River, changed boats and went upstream to Sichuan to take up his post.

In the afternoon, Wang Yi'e and his party arrived in Chenxi County.

Chenxi City is located at the mouth of the Chen River where it flows into the Yuan River. It is an important waterway connecting Tongren Prefecture, Mayang, Fenghuang, Xupu, Qianyang, Yuanzhou, and Huangzhou to Changde Prefecture. It is slightly larger than Luxi County.

There are two docks here, the official dock and the civilian dock, also called the water dock and the dry dock, not far from each other, both on the bank of the Yuan River. Shops are also concentrated nearby, making it more prosperous and lively.

The streets were also paved with stone, and most of the people who came and went wore cloth wrapped around their heads, dark blue slanting-collared clothes and wide-legged pants, and carried bamboo backpacks. Compared to Luxi City, there were many more scholars and students wearing long shirts and robes, wearing Confucian scarves on their heads, and traveling merchants dressed in short tights.

At the dock, Chenxi County Magistrate Xu Gengtian came to greet them with a dozen officials from the county government.

"There are only seventeen of you in Chenxi County Court?"

Wang Yi'e asked with a frown.

When Xu Gengtian was asked by Wang Yi'e, he turned pale and trembled with fear. "Your subordinate, I am sorry for not coming to meet you in person. Please forgive me, Governor."

He was so frightened that he forgot how to address Wang Yi'e.

Quan Shenyong stepped forward and explained for him: "Reporting to Governor Wang, in the six counties of Luxi, Chenxi, Xupu, Qianyang, Yuanzhou, and Mayang in Chenzhou Prefecture, there are always one or two chief assistant officials in the county offices.

The better ones have the county magistrate, county lieutenant and chief clerk, while the worse ones only have the chief clerk or the county magistrate to shoulder the responsibility.

Wang Yi'e nodded and said, "Before this, the Ministry of Personnel selected officials entirely by drawing lots. However, there were strategies from above and counter-strategies from below. It was said that it was all up to God's will, but in reality there was a lot of fraud.

Those who paid money were blessed by God and won a good lottery. Those who didn't pay money were drawn to a remote border area. This place was previously a wild and exiled place. Even if they were drawn by the Ministry of Personnel, they would most likely be unable to come because of illness.

Now the new official system has been reformed for several years, but Huguang has not yet benefited from it. Don't worry, Ling Futai has already taken office. Although the provincial examination was disrupted by scoundrels, it was only postponed for half a month.

The provincial examinations have been reopened, and the candidates admitted in the three categories of B and C will be sorted to serve as officials in their own provinces according to the legal system. When their training period is over, the governor will give priority to arranging them in Chenzhou Prefecture and Yongshun Prefecture.

In addition, the Ministry of Personnel will select 500 students from the Imperial College and the Academy to be assigned to various provinces for training. This Governor has asked Fang Tianguan for 50 quotas, and Chenzhou and Yongshun Prefecture will be given priority at that time. "

Quan Shenyong was pleasantly surprised and said, "That's great. Thank you, Governor."

Wang Yi'e waved his hand and said, "Reform the local government. Yongshun Prefecture and Chenzhou Prefecture are another battlefield. They are the best places to train people. Good steel should be used on the blade. I hope you in Chenzhou Prefecture can forge some good swords for Hunan and the Ministry of Personnel."

After entering the Chenxi County Government Office, Wang Yi'e, accompanied by Quan Shenyong, went to talk to Xu Gengtian.

"Is Chenxi County busy?"

"In reply to the governor, Chenxi County is not busy. The people here are 50-50 Miao and Han. The Miao people usually do what they want. Even if there are disputes, they are negotiated within the villages or between each other. It is rare to report to the county government.

Most of the Han people were former Chenzhou guards, and some were businessmen. They were tough and liked to deal with disputes on their own.

In addition, there is a lack of prosecutors and magistrates in this county, so it is difficult to carry out the interrogation."

Wang Yi'e asked with a smile, "So, you are responsible for investigation, arrest, prosecution, and management all at once?"

Xu Gengtian spread his hands and answered very straightforwardly: "That's right, just as the governor said, I do everything. There is also grain collection, county examinations, sacrifices, bridge repairs, river embankments. Among them, the county examination is the most headache for this humble official.

Because there are not enough students, students from Xupu County also came to Chenxi to take the exam, making a lot of noise and causing a lot of headaches for me. "

"What is your title?"

"A student of Nanjing Imperial College."

Wang Yi'e suddenly remembered, "In the joke about the county exam that was circulated in Changsha a few days ago, the chief examiner was you?"

"Yes. It was my first time as an examiner. I pieced together the test questions here and there, but I was stumped about the title of the poem. I thought for three or five days but couldn't come up with one. So when the test came, I randomly picked "Bright Moon" as the title.

A country teacher wrote a poem, "The moon is round and round, leaving the corner of the sea, gradually emerging from the clouds; this night the moon is full, and its clear light is everywhere?"

I saw that the teacher had taken the exam for more than ten years but couldn't even pass the exam to become a student. I felt pity for him and said to him, "Your meaning is good, but you just don't have the rhyme. If you had the rhyme, I would have chosen you."

As a result, the teacher sighed and said, "I am unlucky, so I have been teaching all this time. If I were as lucky as you, I would have been an official long ago." At that time, I was so angry that I laughed. He deserved to fail in the exam for ten years, so I immediately drove him out."

Wang Yi'e laughed, "There are too many people in the world who only read books by heart, knowing only the words but not their meanings. Why should we take the exam for such people? Even if they pass the exam by chance, they will still be confused and useless to the country and the people.

Supply and marketing cooperatives, as well as industrial and commercial enterprises, will gradually enter Chenzhou Prefecture. These scholars can be recruited to work as accountants or recorders. There are not many scholars among the people, and with the booming industry and commerce, there is an urgent need for people who can read and count. Don't waste them."

"As ordered!"

He also asked about other political affairs in Chenxi County.

The land tax was never fully paid in a year. There were many Miao people in the mountain villages, who built their own villages for self-protection. Few outsiders entered, and no one from the government dared to go to the mountain villages to collect grain.

Taxes can only be collected near the county town, where there are mostly aristocratic landlords and civilian households who have been transferred from military households. They will start fighting at the slightest disagreement.

How to collect it?
"Superintendent, this place is inhabited by both Miao and Han people, and the people are tough. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of officials, and we can't recruit enough servants. The county government has no authority. Every year, the grain collection is insufficient, and the inspection is always poor.

Previously, Chenxi County had a county magistrate and a county magistrate. After being demoted two or three times, they saw no hope for their future and simply resigned. After that, Chenxi County had not had a county magistrate for more than ten years.

I was forced to take on this position. I was originally full of ambition, but after one or two years I have lost all desire."

Quan Shenyong added: "Among the seven counties of Chenzhou Prefecture and Zhenxi Prefecture, no county can collect enough grain. The top priority of local government in the country is to collect grain.

The land tax is insufficient, and there is no future. In addition, this place was originally a remote and barren place, and it was notoriously inadequate. Officials working in Chenzhou Prefecture, or honest people with no qualifications or background, were sent here at will. Or they offended their superiors and were deliberately moved here to be demoted and harassed.

So most of them just muddle through their days in a daze.”

Wang Yi'e was silent for a while, then said with deep emotion: "When I left the capital to bid farewell to Your Majesty, Your Majesty said that local administration is primarily governed by the county magistrates.

The county magistrate was the most people-friendly official in the Ming Dynasty. He was the head of a county, connecting the upper and lower levels, and governing the country with the people. No matter how many good policies the three central departments formulated, if the county magistrate did not implement them with all his heart, the people would still not get any benefits.

After meeting him today, I finally understood what Shi Tinggong had said when he was sharing his experience in changing the natives to the common people. Changing the natives is easy, but changing the common people to the common people is not. The difficulty lies in the selection of the common people officials. If the selection is not careful, all will fail.

It turns out you are right.

After much trouble, the chieftains were abolished and replaced with officials. However, the county magistrates, county magistrates and other county officials were incompetent, causing public resentment. Not only did they fail to win the hearts of the people, but they also provoked civil unrest.

As Wang Yi'e spoke, he felt even more deeply moved.

Before leaving the capital, the emperor summoned him to the Western Garden and had detailed discussions with him seven or eight times. Each time, he mentioned that local administration depended on the selection and management of officials at the level of county magistrates and county magistrates.

He hurriedly reported to Li Shan and other heads of Hunan's aristocratic families a report of eight hundred miles away, secretly colluding with them to boycott the exam in order to disrupt the first Hunan provincial examination.

The emperor sent an urgent letter back to the court over a distance of 800 miles. In his imperial comments, he was very angry about the sabotage of the provincial examination and demanded that he severely punish Li Shan and others.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

In his comments, the emperor also pointed out the source of his anger.

The work of transforming the natives into officials in Huguang was getting on track, and Chenzhou and Yongshun prefectures were in great need of qualified officials.

Originally, during the Hunan Provincial Examination, a group of candidates for the B and C imperial examinations were admitted. They were all native Hunanese, familiar with the local conditions, and could get started with a little training. They were assigned to Chenzhou and Yongshun Prefectures, where they were selected while undergoing training.

Li Shan and others actually organized a boycott to disrupt the provincial examination. Aren't they walking on the edge of a knife?
Now seeing how messy the county government offices in Chenzhou Prefecture are, I dare not imagine what the newly established counties of Yongshun Prefecture will be like.

God knows how much trouble will arise when a group of confused and corrupt officials are in charge of the Miao people who were taken over from many chieftains.

By that time, not only will he fail to win the hearts and minds of the people, but he will also provoke a civil uprising and shock the world.

Then the policy of changing the native peoples into officials would become a joke, and he himself would become a joke too.

I finally understood the emperor's painstaking efforts.

No wonder that as soon as Ling Yunyi took office as the governor of Hunan, he took over the case of Li Shan and others, and immediately took over Yuelu Academy and turned it into a study class.

He personally presided over the provincial examination, and appointed officials from the Ministry of Personnel, the Honglu Temple, and the Propaganda Bureau transferred from the capital as "assistant examiners". He admitted the full quota of candidates for categories A, B, and C, and then stuffed all 367 candidates from category B and 479 candidates from category C in.

Assist the examiners to transform themselves into teachers and intensify their training.

I guess he also received the emperor's earnest instructions.

The emperor stands high and sees far.

After sending Xu Gengtian away, Yao Bingzhou and Ren Boan attended the meeting together.

"Governor, Qianyang County has sent a carrier pigeon saying that Yang Zhaolong has boarded the ship and will arrive tomorrow."

"Well then, Prefect Quan."

"The humble position is here."

"You and Wu Changshi go talk to him together. Neither I nor Tang can show up, so let's go to Mayang first. It's the main road to Tongren and Sinan Prefecture."

"As you command." Quan Shenyong replied immediately, "Governor, how should I talk to Yang Zhaolong?"

"Let's talk about it for five or six days. Wait until this governor and Envoy Tang come back from Mayang. Of the three thousand wolf soldiers in Bozhou, only one thousand can be returned."

Tang Kekuan said on the side: "It took the Dusi Political Propaganda Bureau three or four months to gather a thousand people.

These officers and soldiers all had eyes. Yang used their lives to exchange for rewards from the court. In the past, they fought hard, shed blood and sacrificed their lives, but could only get some leftovers, and all the benefits went into Yang Yinglong's pocket.

Now the rewards are directly distributed to the officers and soldiers, and all treatment is the same as that of the town guards. Water flows to the low places, and people go to the high places. Except for Yang's confidants and die-hards, everyone will choose. "

Wang Yi'e waited for Tang Kekuan to finish speaking, then continued, "We will exchange these 1,000 wolf soldiers for the families of the 2,000 wolf soldiers. If Yang Yinglong is reluctant to part with them, then he shouldn't take any of them back."

Wu Chengen said: "Don't worry, Governor. The Yang family is ambitious. These 3,000 wolf soldiers are their elite and they are all veterans of hundreds of battles. The Yang family is reluctant to give them up. Although it is very infuriating to be able to return 1,000, it is better than having none at all.

After some discussion, they will definitely be willing to change.”

Wang Yi'e sneered, "I just want to argue with you. It will probably take two or three months to finish. It's freezing cold, so we can wait until the spring of the second year of Wanli to discuss anything. We will have plenty of time to prepare.

Yao Bingzhou, how is your plan going?"

"In reply to the Governor, the result will be known within a month."

"How sure are you?"

"To answer the Governor, I have a 60% chance of success, but I will do my best to make this happen and realize the Governor's brilliant plan."

“Whether it’s a good idea or not, we’ll see the final effect first.

They have always refused to say how many people the Yang family controls.

According to the intelligence you gathered from the Pacification Office, last year the Yang family had 6 million dan of grain, more than 500 horses, and more than 2,000 cattle. Last year, the Guizhou Provincial Administration Office only collected 126,000 dan of land tax.

They also opened silver mines and mined more than 20,000 taels of silver and tens of thousands of dan of black lead every year. They gathered workers to cut more than 10,000 pairs of fir boards every year, half of which they sold to officials and the other half were sent down the river to Suzhou and other places to sell, making them another huge fortune.

Wang Yi'e put his hands behind his back and paced slowly in the room. Everyone sat on the chairs and followed his gaze.

"I don't know how many soldiers Yang has under his command. During the Chenghua period, the foreign soldiers in Songzhou and Maozhou in Sichuan rebelled, and the Left Vice-Chief Censor Zhang Zan was ordered to suppress the rebellion.

He mobilized local chieftains and their soldiers from the southwest. According to his Travels of the Eastern Expedition, Yang Hui, the envoy of Bozhou, and his sons led more than 8,000 local soldiers under their command to join the expedition, and left more than 10,000 soldiers behind.

During the Chenghua period, the Yang family had nearly 20,000 soldiers. Now, nearly a hundred years have passed, the Yang family has accumulated so much wealth, and the population is growing day by day, so they should have 30,000 soldiers under their command.

Bozhou was in a strategic location, and one man could hold the pass against ten thousand. To mobilize the elite garrison troops and surround it from all sides would require at least 100,000 soldiers and horses.

It would cost a lot of money and manpower to dispatch 100,000 soldiers. So the emperor agreed to my plan. Whether this plan can succeed depends on whether you, Yao Bingzhou, can convince those two people.

Yao Bingzhou, you have to go all out! "

"As you command! I will sneak into Sinan City tomorrow and make sure this matter is done."

"Okay, Guangning, you must do your best to cooperate with Yao Du. In Bozhou, you two will be the first and second meritorious. This governor will definitely submit a petition to request merit for you two!"

"Don't worry, Governor. The two of us will do our best to complete this matter."

(End of this chapter)