Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 218: National "Search"

When Shen Yikuan also left the court and the policy of strict preferential treatment seemed unstoppable, resignations occurred in the two capitals and the local areas because of the emperor's decree to pardon Zhang Juzheng's sons.

Some may simply be afraid of being caught in a dilemma during the new policy process, while others are expressing dissatisfaction.

But people like Wang Shiqi still carry personal grudges from their fathers.

Everyone knew that Wang Shizhen was afraid of passing on the "ancestral teachings", so Wang Shiqi was "unwilling" to serve as an official in the same court as the Zhang family's children.

Zhu Changluo expressed his determination not to keep these "fools" and even pointed out that he wanted to hold an imperial examination. Shen Shixing and Li Dai were very worried.

"Your Majesty, a hasty promotion without sufficient experience may not be a good thing for the government offices and local governments," Li Dai said. "I have been busy with staffing and reassignment in the past two years, and the official changes have been too many and too fast."

"Does that mean the court should give in and I should withdraw my order?" Zhu Changluo looked at him. "The officials who were wrongly dismissed in the past, the old ministers who resigned due to the political situation, and the talented people in the folks who failed to pass the provincial and metropolitan examinations due to the difficulty of the examinations can all be promoted. If the chief officer does not have enough experience, we can assign more assistant officers. We can always think of a solution."

"Even if the new imperial examination is granted, and the imperial edict is issued again, it may not be enough. Many people..." Li Dai looked at Shen Shixing, "For example, the Taichang Temple has only summoned Jiao Hong, the director of the Nanjing Imperial College, to the north. The other great scholars are unwilling to come to the capital."

Shen Shixing remained silent.

this is the truth.

The previous period was still a period of resistance, and we always had to rely on the "old party pillars" in the court and have hope.

Now there are one house and four courtyards, Shen Yikuan has left the court, and Wang Xijue is in charge of the Council of State Administration. Since the new policy is unstoppable, this situation will inevitably occur.

This is the number of people who, at this stage, do not want to offend their colleagues in the government and are prepared to have less trouble than more.

The emperor added: "But since these people have no interest in their official positions, will they work well if we keep them?"

Li Dai stopped talking.

This is the current situation: since the emperor is not prepared to give in and is determined to implement new policies, there is no solution to these problems.

Many people know that when serving as an official, you should think twice: think about danger, think about retreat, and think about change.

Of course, some people think that now is the time to "change" and "advance". But many people have sensed the danger and are considering retreating and waiting for change, and you can't say anything.

This trend is bound to expand. Can we fill in enough experienced, capable and willing officials to follow the imperial decrees in such a short time? The new and young people selected through the imperial examinations can only be accumulated step by step.

The most important thing is the chain reaction: as Li Dai said, from the 28th year of Wanli to the present, the country has almost been in the process of recruiting new personnel and changing appointments.

No matter which government office or place, it is certainly not a good thing for officials to change too quickly.

Where can you be an official without a process of familiarizing yourself with the affairs?

Zhu Changluo was in an irritable mood, but he could only force himself to calm down.

This is the problem that will be encountered after continuous evolution. He closed his eyes and thought for a long time before asking: "I heard that Xie Tingzan, the censor of Zhejiang's academic records, reported that in Zhejiang alone, there are more than 4,000 students taking the exam. Every three years, only 90 students are selected. What is the ratio in other provinces of the Ming Dynasty?"

Shen Shixing replied: "About 30 to 50 times."

The ratio of Juren to Jinshi was very stable, about three out of a hundred.

In fact, the total amount of additional local officials can already be absorbed: each county and state has both newly-designated academic officials and assistant officials such as the county magistrate and the chief clerk, as well as newly-established village heads.

A county or state can have about ten additional low-level official positions, which is equivalent to adding more than 10,000 new official positions in the entire Ming Dynasty at one time.

But this group of low-ranking officials are easy to find, but the standards for those above the sixth rank or even above the fourth rank mentioned by Li Dai cannot be so low.

There may be hundreds of thousands of surviving students in the Ming Dynasty, but the number of surviving juren has dropped to more than 10,000, and the number of surviving jinshi is only two to three thousand.

The provincial examination will be held next year. Even if the number of admissions to the provincial examination is increased next year, it will not be able to cope with the impact of this wave of resignations.

Zhu Changluo looked at the two and made up his mind: "For local officials, regardless of their background, those with rich experience and those who are from the Juren family should be promoted. If the old bring up the new, there won't be any big problems! This list is something that the Jinxian Academy should worry about. In any case, the court is not allowed to be held hostage by such things! The court's financial situation has just improved, and it is not allowed to go back! Next year, the Juren special examination will recruit scholars, and the provincial examination will increase the number of regular candidates. In addition to the Imperial College, three years later, the Ming Dynasty should not be unable to cope with the mass resignation of officials due to a lack of successors!"

He called Wang Xijue and Chen Qi over again: "Those who are capable of doing the work and working hard will be rewarded generously. Those who are diligent and honest will be rewarded with silver, and the local authorities will give them enough! Even if there are many obstacles in the local authorities, there is only one purpose: if you work for the court, I will not treat you unfairly!"

Perhaps in the next three years, local gentry will resolutely stop paying tributes to their ancestors while strictly enforcing exemptions. Perhaps the silver left in the local area cannot satisfy the appetite of local officials. Perhaps they will have to do more work with less money than before, and will also face many non-cooperations and excuses.

But that’s the problem with reform.

It is not easy to change the atmosphere.

Changing too quickly is not good, but stability and lack of mobility are also not good.

In any case, the emperor's attitude towards this group of resignations was: all were approved.

Then he issued an imperial decree: next year, a special examination will be held, and each province will add some places to the main list of the provincial examinations.

Maybe the number of candidates selected in the imperial examination will be increased next year.

"Without raising taxes, the court would have too many officials and too many scholars to support. Where would the money and food come from?"

The students of the Imperial College are in a period of "identity change".

The Imperial College is about to start its new semester, and the outstanding students among them will be transferred directly to the University.

They were originally selected from various places to present tribute, so they did not have to go through any examinations.

But now they are also discussing their future. After all, the increase in the number of places on the list of special examinations and provincial examinations, as well as the increase in official positions, will have an impact on their future.

Once you get on the car, you want the door to be welded shut. Scarcity is the key to value.

"The strict implementation of preferential treatment and exemption is naturally from the official and gentry families."

The few people who were discussing this issue did not mention the business tax. After all, in their opinion, most of the merchants who could expand their business were from the families of "Confucian merchants" or "Confucian merchants' clans".

Imperial examinations, marriage alliances... since one has money, it is easier than for ordinary people.

They had enough interests to discuss about "increasing revenue" from the homes of officials and gentry across the country and then supporting more officials.

But there is one thing: among those who are already in official positions, I am afraid that many people would not want to see their power diluted and would not want more people to flock into this world of fame and fortune.

Among them, there are those who are Jinshi graduates and those who are Juren graduates... each has his own little calculations.

"But they each have their own concerns." In the Privy Council, Zhu Changluo, after another performance of four generations living under one roof, spoke to Mei Guozhen, Xing Jie, Peng Guoguang and Lu Zhaoxiong who were about to return after returning to the capital to report on their work.

"There is no need to look at this issue in the context of the entire Ming Dynasty. We need to look at it in each specific prefecture, county, province, and government office. In the end, each place is just a small arena with dozens or hundreds of people, and there are only a few important figures. They may think they can respond to each other from a distance, but in fact they are each an army, and it is nothing more than defeating them one by one."

The reason why these right governors were told this was to allow them to use their still-standing civilian status to at least stabilize the borders.

These people were also meeting the emperor for the first time, and their feelings were not much different from Li Hualong's original feelings.

The emperor spoke very directly and pointed out the key points very accurately.

Zhu Changluo looked at them and said, "Now it's like attacking an enemy. Some people think that after holding on, there will be changes, either because of lack of successors, lack of food and grass, or reinforcements from other places. Separate them, officials are officials and civilians are civilians, civil servants are civil servants and military officers are military officers. If there are no changes on the border, there will be no external worries that cause internal troubles."

"…I will keep this in mind."

The emperor naturally asked them to defend the nine borders and the southwest and prevent the Ming Dynasty from being involved in foreign wars.

The most important energy must be used to straighten out the internal finances, so that the new central government system can stably manage the Ming Dynasty, have far more financial income than before, and be able to support a larger number of Ming Dynasty civil and military officials, and openly suppress the opposition gentry among the "common people": pay what should be paid!

As for them, if they feel that this kind of stubbornness will not last long enough to see the day when they can turn defeat into victory, then they can only "surrender" and change their status of being completely managed and taxed by becoming officials and joining the other side.

"Three years!" Zhu Changluo looked at them and said, "Just three years. In another three years, the Ming Dynasty will definitely get rid of the current situation. Military efforts can make progress, and civil efforts can make governance. Father is now willing, but no longer able to work hard to govern. This heavy responsibility falls on us, the emperor and his subjects. You are at the border, and you know that foreign races are surrounding us. If China is weak, it will inevitably be in danger of sinking. Now we can only scrape the bone to cure the poison, so that we can shock the world again! Although we have won several battles, how can we know that the foreign heroes have not seen that the Ming Dynasty is actually at the end of its strength?"

In the Wuying Hall, he bowed to the right general of the other four armies besides the front army, which was a heavy trust entrusted by the emperor.

The four people adapted to the change in their identities, and they also knew that in the emperor's mind, the Privy Council was the final support for suppressing everything.

This is the court within the court, and they are the close ministers among the important ministers.

Either the emperor succeeds in what he wants to do, and they will have a transcendent status from then on.

Either the emperor finally gave in and went back to the past, and they were liquidated as "flatterers."

The identity was given by the emperor, but the ending was decided by others.

Just like Zhang Jiangling back then.

He died before he could accomplish his goal of serving the country. How much did the retired emperor, who now seems to be showing regret, want to protect his achievements and his reputation and family after his death?

Now, Xing Jie and the other three certainly knew that the emperor had pardoned Zhang Juzheng's sons, and that the emperor was extremely determined at this moment.

They can also be afraid of things and resign.

They also have the option to give it a try.

Looking at the young emperor bending down to kowtow, they, who had been in officialdom for many years, finally developed a sense of patriotism.

At least, even though they had not had a close relationship before and did not know each other well enough, the emperor was willing to give them this trust and believe in them.

"I am willing to share your worries for Your Majesty!"

This year's competition is taking place in the Beijing camp.

During the non-water transport period, Chen Lin and Wang Chengxun also came.

Wang Chengxun, the Left General of the Left Army, Chen Lin, the Left General of the Front Army, Xiao Ruxun, the Left General of the Rear Army, and Liu Jing, the Left General of the Right Army, will each select 3,000 soldiers next month to serve as their standard battalions stationed in various locations.

Over in the Yangxin Palace, Liu Ruoyu and two young eunuchs assigned by the Inner Study were counting the "congratulatory messages" presented from various places on the birth of the emperor's eldest son.

This congratulatory letter, presented in the form of a memorial, contained the numbers reported to the emperor by various places.

The second year of Taichang has not yet come to an end, and not all congratulatory messages have arrived from all places, but at least we have a rough idea of ​​the preliminary figures.

In the imperial study temporarily located in Wenlou, the newly appointed "Minister of Calligraphy" Zhu Geng had to sort out the memorials from various places, including replies to the Council of Administration, reporting the amount of taxes "to be collected" and "to be paid" since the beginning of this year.

He felt a little dizzy. Compared with what he heard from the Ministry of Revenue when he was in the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel in the past, he always felt that the numbers were a bit different.

The statistics have not been completed yet, but they will eventually converge on Zhu Changluo.

"Has the comparison been completed?"

At night, he asked Tian Yi and Chen Ju.

"The returned stolen money is almost equal to the average tax revenue collected by various places over the past five years." Tian Yi was referring to the data in the memorial.

"After strictly enforcing preferential exemptions, we can probably collect 40% to 60% more." Chen Ju was referring to the data in the question book.

Their tones were all serious because the local situation seemed to be "too active".

This means that the Ming Dynasty may collect several million taels of silver in one go this year, although a lot of it will have to be retained in local areas based on the expenses for the next three years listed in the congratulatory message.

Starting from this year, the Ming Dynasty's tax should also steadily rise to more than 40 million shi of land tax. Even if there is no strict commercial tax, the annual income should be more than 5 million taels of silver.

It not only extorts people's money, but also cuts off their money.

Such a "report card" made Tian Yi and Chen Ju very worried: it was like a nationwide raid on the property of the whole country, except that it was not thorough.

The amount of money was so great that it was frightening. They believed that even the emperor who loved money would be frightened.

Zhu Changluo just nodded: "Put it up first!"

Then he ordered: "Just like last year, prepare the silver for the reward for the Beijing troops in the competition."

The two of them went about preparing with great anxiety, but Zhu Changluo had a plan in mind.

There is simply a lack of contrast.

It has always been this way, so does it seem particularly "scary" now?

No, for the entire Ming Dynasty, in this world that had not yet entered the industrial age, why was its real national strength only an annual income of more than 40 million shi of grain and less than 10 million taels of silver from land taxes?

The whole court should have opened their eyes!
Which official doesn’t like a good financial situation?
(End of this chapter)