I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 896: Test on the Train
The atmosphere in the carriage was a bit solemn, and the clanging of the wheels was particularly loud. After a moment of silence, a burst of laughter rang out in the carriage, and the atmosphere became relaxed.

Shi Xing raised his head and laughed twice, then continued Xu Zhenming's words: "After the telegraph was invented, the transmission of news throughout the country became very fast. In the past, the emperor's edicts and the imperial edicts from the Council of State Affairs would take more than ten days to be transmitted from the capital to Xi'an, a distance of 600 miles.

Now, beep beep, the capital sends it, and Xi'an receives it almost at the same time. Only the emperor can think of such a divine thing."

Xu Zhenming nodded, his expression still solemn.

"On the first day of the first year of the Wanli reign, the Huangji Gate held its enthronement ceremony. I was kneeling in the last few rows."

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but think of the first day of the first year of the Wanli reign, when the emperor officially ascended the throne. A miracle descended from the sky, causing a sensation throughout the country, and all the people respected the emperor as the man of destiny.

Many of the people present, including Xu Zhenming, were at the Huangji Gate or in Beijing at the time and witnessed the miracle with their own eyes.

Now all kinds of incredible "divine objects" have appeared one by one under the emperor's guidance, which further verifies this point.

Perhaps in a hundred or ten years, when science flourishes, when people talk about the miracle that occurred on New Year's Day in the first year of the Wanli reign, they will probably say that the end of science is theology!

After lunch, Shi Xing said, "Qianhe, Mingshou, Huchen, please stay for a moment. Xu Du and I have something to discuss with you."

After saying this, he glanced at Yuan Xian'an, the Chief Secretary of the Shaanxi Governor.

Yuan Xian'an stood up and said, "Brother Li, we are old friends. We haven't seen each other for several years. I just want to have a good talk with you. How about we go back to your room and chat together?"

Li Zhibin, the chief secretary of the Shaanxi-Gansu Governor-General, stood up quickly and said, "Okay, Brother Yuan, let's go to my room and have a good chat.

Yuan Xian'an, Li Zhibin, and Zhou Bingzhou, the chief secretary of the Sichuan Governor, were the Five Righteous Men of Chaoyang Gate and the Three Heroes of Imperial History Cheng, who went to the streets to beg for food with bowls and held up banners at Zuoshun Gate to demand wages, making the Minister of Revenue Gao Gong very upset.

How many years of friendship.

The two looked around at the other attendants in the carriage and said casually, "Everyone, go back to your rooms and rest."

The two were chief secretaries, and naturally the leaders of the entourages of Xu Zhenming and Shi Xing. As soon as they opened their mouths, all the entourages, including Xu Zhenming's secretary Xiong Weigao and Shi Xing's secretary Li Sancai, stood up and responded.

"Yuan Changshi/Li Changshi, let's go back to the room and rest."

Soon, only Xu Zhenming, Shi Xing, Shen Wanxiang, Wang Yongji and Wang Fengmeng were left in the dining car, making it seem a little empty.

Xu Zhenming glanced at Shi Xing and knew what he was thinking.

Shen Wanxiang worked as a clerk to Pan Yinglong. After Pan Yinglong became the Minister of Personnel, he was sent as an envoy to three countries overseas.

After five years, the journey was difficult and full of risks, and coming back alive was a great experience.

The first envoy of the Ming Dynasty to be sent to overseas vassal states had a mission completely different from the angels who had previously gone to Annan, Korea, and Japan to announce the imperial edict. According to the emperor, they were the first batch of true diplomats of the Ming Dynasty.

His achievements are engraved in history, just like the first Ming Dynasty's global sailing fleet led by Wu Guanhai and Zhu Jingfa, and the first global scientific expedition team led by Zhao Shizhen, and will be remembered forever.

Once he returns to Beijing, he will definitely be valued and will most likely be sent to a local area to serve as a councilor or a provincial governor. From then on, he will rise rapidly to the top.

However, what Shi Xing should be interested in is his relationship with Pan Yinglong.

Xu Zhenming's eyes flashed at Wang Yongji twice again.

He was from Jinjiang, Fujian. He entered the Imperial College at an early age, and then naturally became the last disciple of Li Zhi, the founder of the new school. He was previously recommended to train under Wang Yi'e, and had a special relationship with Governor Osprey.

Next to Wang Yongji, Wang Fengmeng was wearing a field-gray military uniform, and his round-brimmed hat with a red brim was carefully placed on the table beside him.

This person is even more extraordinary. He is one of the few closed disciples of Mr. Hai Rui.

Although Hai Gong did not form a clique, after he took the position of Grand Secretary and Chief Censor, he naturally became the leader of the conservative faction of the New Party.

Position and power complement each other.

Shi Xing kept these three people because he wanted to pass some important information to the big guys behind them through their mouths.

Xu Zhenming was the kind of minister who only knew how to do his job and didn't understand power struggles. If he hadn't been lucky enough to meet Zhu Yijun as emperor, if he had been replaced by any other emperor, he wouldn't even have been promoted to the position of governor and would have been scolded by the censors and had to go home to eat his old rice.

Who told you to only do practical things? As long as you do practical things, you will definitely find flaws and mistakes.

Criticizing these flaws and mistakes from a moral high ground is exactly what those censors who only care about theoretical ideas and not practical matters are good at!
Although Xu Zhenming hated power struggles in his heart, he did not object to Shi Xing doing so, and did not even show the slightest disgust.

Because he knew that some things had to be done.

For example, he had to build water conservancy projects and plant trees in the drought-stricken northwest, but he also had to fight for power and protect everyone's interests.

Ever since Shi Xing was transferred to be the governor of Shaanxi, according to the emperor's words, he would be working with him in a team, but he would be the leader and monitor of this team.

Naturally, the two of them became a whole, and their interests were quietly tied together, just like himself and Xu Wei before.

At that time, Duke Wenchang took over the leadership of the Northwest leadership team from Duke Cao and joined him in the team. Duke Wenchang protected the team from the wind and rain while everyone worked hard below.

Now it's my turn to shelter from the wind and rain. There are some things I can't do myself, and Shi Xing has to do them. I just have to help him hold the situation.

Shi Xing said, "Qianhe, Mingshou, you have been on a diplomatic mission overseas for five years, and there have been many changes in the court. Apart from other things, many senior ministers of the Constitutional Council have passed away one after another.

In March of the sixth year of the Wanli reign, Mr. Meilin (Hu Zongxian) passed away; in October, Mr. Sizhai (Huo Ji) passed away; in February of the seventh year of the Wanli reign, Mr. Dongcun (Cao Bangfu) passed away; in September of the eighth year of the Wanli reign, Mr. Beishan (Lu Tong) passed away; in the winter of the ninth year of the Wanli reign, Mr. Dazhou (Zhao Zhenji) passed away.
It is truly a pity to see so many stars dying.

Birth, old age, sickness and death, prosperity and decline are all inevitable.

The dead are gone, the living are like this"

Shen Wanxiang knew that Shi Futai was pointing a finger at him.

The passing of old ministers and predecessors is like the old wave of the times receding, and a new wave is coming to replace it.

Governor Xu and Futai Shi took the train to Beijing. Governor Xu was to attend the plenary meeting of the Advisory Bureau, and Futai Shi was to attend the plenary meeting of the Court Council. These two important meetings would determine the general situation of the Ming Dynasty in the next five to ten years.

All forces act in secret, each trying to gain the best interests for themselves.

Xu Zhenming and Shi Xing also wanted to make positive progress in this turbulent period.

Who doesn’t want to make progress?
As Pan Yinglong's secretary, Shen Wanxiang knew a lot about the internal affairs of the court. He also knew that the New Party was roughly divided into the Conservatives and the Progressives. However, there were many small groups under the two factions. They had their own different political ideas and interests, but they were able to unite within the framework of the Conservatives or the Progressives on the overall political ideas and major interests.

Xu Zhenming and Shi Xing belong to the moderate Northwest group. And this group is somewhat special.

First of all, their head, Xu Wei, the former governor-general of Shaanxi and Gansu and the current governor-general of the Three Borders, is radical in his thinking and ruthless in his actions, and seems to belong to the progressive faction.

But in fact, that is just due to his personal character. He is essentially a conservative person.

In addition, the Northwestern Group is at a great disadvantage in the current political mainstream of the Ming Dynasty, which is increasingly centered on economic development.

The conditions in several provinces in the northwest are difficult, and they have spent several times more energy and financial resources than the southeast, but the political achievements they have achieved are extremely unremarkable. Those political achievements that will benefit future generations are only regarded as "patching up" the northwest in the eyes of many people.

Every year, the Ministry of Revenue needs to make a large amount of transfer payments and financial support from the eastern regions, which is secretly ridiculed by the Ministry of Revenue and the eastern regions as a financial bottomless pit and a financial beggars' gang.

From an economic perspective, they are at a great disadvantage and cannot compete with the capable officials in the eastern region who are good at attracting investment and economic development.

But the emperor would consider political issues in his mind.

The emperor has repeatedly stated at meetings at all levels that the selection of officials should not only take into account economic factors, but also political and historical factors.

How to settle political and historical accounts?

This view was put forward by the emperor after the fifth year of Wanli.

While Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji were waiting in Xi'an, they did not wander around, but found Yuan Xian'an, the chief secretary of the Shaanxi governor, and borrowed a large number of imperial edicts, government decrees, and ministerial orders issued by the court in the past five years, as well as a large number of speeches by the emperor published in various newspapers.

Like a wrung-out sponge, they quickly absorbed the political situation that had settled over the past five years.

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji learned that according to the emperor's edict and imperial words, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue divided the country into different regions.

The Northwest, Southwest and Northeast, Genzhou, Xunzhou and the South China Sea, Kunming, Zhangzhung and Qinghai were designated as border areas.

The following places are divided into mountainous, indigenous, border and poor areas by county.

During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, counties across the country were divided into two types: "complex" and "simple" based on the amount of land tax they paid and the importance of their geographical location.

The Wanli New Deal's mountainous, agrarian, border and poor areas followed this idea, but were divided more finely and paid more attention to poor and remote counties.

Mountains refer to the areas where the eastern, central and western provinces meet. Most of these areas are mountainous, remote and have inconvenient transportation.

Typical areas include the Taihang Mountain area at the border of Shanxi and Hebei, the Yimeng Mountain area at the border of Shandong and Jiangsu, the Wugong-Wanyang Mountain area at the border of Hunan and Jiangxi, the southern Gan Mountain area at the border of Jiangxi and Guangdong, the Wuyi Mountain area at the border of Jiangxi and Fujian, the southern Anhui Mountain area at the border of Jiangxi, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces, and the Handan Mountain area at the border of Shaanxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

Tu refers to the former Tusi areas that were transformed into official areas.

(According to Zhu Yijun when he was a senior civil servant, it was called the minority area, which included most of the counties in several southwestern and northwestern provinces.)
Border and poverty refer to poor counties located in border areas and underdeveloped economies. The two can overlap with each other, and can also overlap with mountainous counties and Tusi counties.

For example, Youyang, Songtao, Baojing and Fenghuang counties, which are located on the border of Guizhou, Sichuan and Hunan, are mountainous, chieftain-dominated and poor counties.

For example, Longchuan County in Yunnan is currently a mountainous, border and impoverished county.

However, border counties are changing very fast. For example, Longchuan County in Yunnan may just be a mountainous county and a poor county in a few years, because most of Pagan may be incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Working in mountainous, remote, or border counties, supporting the border areas, and working in impoverished counties is called poverty alleviation.

The Ministry of Revenue stipulated that officials in mountainous, rural, border and poor counties should receive higher post allowances than those in other regions.

The Ministry of Personnel stipulates that officials with a record of supporting border areas and alleviating poverty will be given priority in selection. The most obvious example is that on the list of county-level officials trained and studied by Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji at the Ministry of Personnel every year, the proportion of county magistrates and county magistrates from mountainous, border, and poor counties is higher than that from other counties.

It's roughly six to four.

When Pan Yinglong was transferred to be the Minister of Personnel, Shen Wanxiang continued to serve as his clerk before he was transferred to the Honglu Temple and sent as an envoy overseas.

At that time, Pan Yinglong drafted a new "Official Personnel Selection Regulations", which gave priority to promotion to university graduates who took the initiative to work in remote areas and stayed there for three to five years.

Based on the official documents borrowed in Xi'an, Shen Wanxiang discovered that the "Regulations on the Selection and Evaluation of Officials of the Ming Dynasty" revised by the Ministry of Personnel adopted a comprehensive scoring system for the evaluation of officials, and those with experience in supporting border areas and alleviating poverty in their resumes would be given a lot of extra points.

This is settling political accounts.

If we look at history, although there are no notable achievements made by Governor Xu Zhenming in the Northwest at present, they are all contributions that will benefit future generations.

This is the historical account!

The emperor was full of praise for Governor Xu's political achievements. Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji also learned a new concept from the emperor's imperial edicts and speeches praising Governor Xu many times.

"Apply scientific concepts to economic development, adapt to local conditions, and take the path of sustainable development!"

The current situation is that capable officials of the New Party's Progressive Faction who are good at economics have made great efforts in the eastern region to revitalize industry and commerce, develop real industries, and make economic construction flourish, and thus be promoted to higher positions.

If the conservatives are not good at managing the economy, they can go to the central and western border areas to support poverty alleviation, do practical work with their feet on the ground, and engage in another kind of economic construction with sustainable development, and they can also make rapid progress.

But now that I have called these two core leaders of the conservative faction over, what do they want to say?
Shen Wanxiang speculated secretly.

Shi Xinghan sighed for a few times, and finally got to the point: "Qianhe, Mingshou, Huchen, this trip to Beijing..."

(End of this chapter)