Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 213: Rectifying the atmosphere in the scholarly and academic circles, new ideas for royal family reform!

"If it's a merchant, why is there an official seal?"

A soldier picked up an official seal from the ground.

"The seal of the governor of Donglai."

"You said you were a merchant, but did you forge this official seal privately, or did you steal it?"

"We are from the Northern Pacification Division, and we need you to give a clear answer!"

The soldier then took out his badge.

Zhang Lun shuddered after hearing this, then he put his hand on his forehead and said, "Let me take it easy!"

……

"Donglai Prefecture should be changed to a direct-controlled prefecture, and the censors should be sent to a new place to make it more difficult for the coastal wealthy families to collude with the bureaucrats and seize the resources here."

"In addition, the decentralization mentioned by Elder Fei before should also be finalized."

"I have also read your preliminary draft of the charter. It is not good enough to set up mines for mining and exploration and let the head of the Ministry of Revenue manage the mines."

"We should set up a mining bureau!"

"The Mining Bureau should not be under the Ministry of Revenue, but should be directly under the Ministry of Finance, responsible for planning whether or not to mine minerals throughout the country."

"The Mining Bureau has a Mining Company under it. The Mining Company, in accordance with the instructions of the Mining Bureau, explores for minerals in various parts of the country, sets up mines, and sells minerals to officials and approved merchants."

"If we only let a Ministry of Revenue official manage the mine, he will only know how to mine and only think about his own promotion, not the long-term interests of the country!"

"There is a mining bureau under the cabinet, which helps the cabinet govern and has a general control and planning strategy for the world's mining industry."

"As for setting up a mining office, it is because there may be more than one new mine in the future, so there must be an office to coordinate the miners and miners, and also be responsible for improving mining and prospecting techniques."

"As for supervision, we should not only send inspectors to Donglai Prefecture for supervision, but also institutionalize the matter of sending Zhejiang Governor Xia Yan to Donglai to inspect the mines. We should select officials from the capital to inspect from time to time. It would be best to organize them into a group as an inspection group, and add new Jinshi to it to serve as trial inspectors, so that they can broaden their horizons and borrow their vigor to try to discover more problems and dare to raise more questions."

Forbidden City.

After Zhu Houcong issued an order to arrest Lai Yuan and Zhang Lun, he proposed further reform plans for Donglai and Tianxia Mining to the cabinet ministers.

Zhu Houcong's reforms meant that he was beginning to give the cabinet the function of managing macro-strategy, further distinguishing it from the six ministries that were specifically responsible for implementation.

According to Zhu Houcong's idea, a land and resources management office could be set up in the future, and specific land and resources departments would be responsible for the authorization and maintenance of corresponding resources in accordance with the plan.

Of course, it’s too early to do this now.

The main reason is that there are too few professional and technical bureaucrats in the Ming Dynasty.

Most of them were selected from reading the Four Books and Five Classics and writing eight-part essays.

Of course, this does not mean that these officials are stupid. It is mainly because they have not received professional training. Every profession has its own expertise. In some areas that require certain professional skills, there will inevitably be cognitive gaps and superstition about authority, so they are easily fooled by their subordinates.

In fact, this problem exists in the six ministries now.

For example, in the Ministry of Revenue, many officials were not interested in professional knowledge such as counting and accounting, but were more interested in the discussion of rituals which was the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites. As a result, they were often deceived by the petty officials below, resulting in a large amount of national treasury being lost without anyone knowing.

……

……

By the way, Yan Song was quite professional in cultural propaganda work.

After entering Huguang, he gathered a group of orphans among the beggars and asked the literati he hired from Huguang to teach them to sing slang such as "Mr. Yuan lends money at low interest rates, the people are happy and the gentry are crying."

"Mr. Yuan is good at lending at low interest rates. The people are happy while the gentry are crying."

"Mr. Yuan is good at lending at low interest rates. The people are happy while the gentry are crying."

"Mr. Yuan is good at lending at low interest rates. The people are happy while the gentry are crying."

……

As soon as these orphans arrived in Wuchang City, they spread the song everywhere, which made the Huguang gentry, who only said that Yuan Zonggao was competing with the people for profit, very embarrassed.

"Where did these wild kids come from? Who told them to sing like this?"

“It’s really the opposite!”

"This is the rumor of rebellion, just like the saying at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, 'There are too many officials and too few people, and we are beaten three times a day.' It attacks the officials. If it's not rebellion, what else can it be?"

After hearing this, the scholar Xiang Wendi walked out of a bookstore in great anger and ordered his servants to capture these orphans in a stern voice.

call!
call!
But when these slaves came to capture the orphans, the soldiers from the inspection office arrived soon after receiving a report. When they saw these slaves capturing children, they started beating and capturing them.

Many slaves were even beaten to death on the spot.

Because it is a period of severe crackdown, Governor Shu Sheng and Military Governor Gui E are both very strict in their requirements, so naturally they will not care about the background of these powerful slaves.

Even Xiang Wendi himself was invited to the county government office for questioning after being recruited by his powerful servants.

Xiang Wending said to Wu Jingyuan, the magistrate of Jiangxia County in Wuchang Prefecture: "You old parents don't know that there are children outside spreading slanderous remarks about our gentry. It is simply a disgrace to our culture!"

Wu Jingyuan said: "This is all arranged by Yan Qianxian, the envoy in charge of observing customs and rectifying practices!"

Xiang Wending was very shocked after hearing this, and then said: "This is really a good idea. After all, it is Yan Qianxian who uses children's slang to set the record straight! Smart, really smart!"

Although Xiang Wendi was very annoyed with Yan Song's behavior, he did not dare to offend Yan Song who came here on behalf of the court to observe the customs and practices.

"Then why did you order the servants to capture these children?"

Wu Jingyuan asked at this time.

Xiang Wending thought for a moment and said, "I want to call these children over and ask them who taught them to use such slang that is helpful in correcting the public's view." "These servants are really hateful!"

Then, Xiang Wending spat and said, "They are very submissive in front of me, but when they are asked to do something with the children of the people, they always take advantage of the power of others and ruin the reputation of my Xiang family!"

Wu Jingyuan said: "That being said, it is not ethical for the office to keep slaves. They still have to sign a confession of guilt, hand over the stolen goods and pay a fine!"

After nodding to Wen Ding and signing his confession, he returned home accompanied by a public official.

On the way home, he once again heard the children singing slang praising the Yuan family's low-interest lending, and he couldn't help but frown again.

But this time, he didn't dare to get angry again and say that this was spreading rebellious remarks.

Gui E was very happy to hear these slangs, and said in front of Yan Song and Shu Sheng: "Now I don't have to hear only the sound of 'competing with the people for profit'."

"Your Majesty is very capable and has a good response. He has made life much easier for us officials who are responsible for implementing the new policies in the local areas. Not only has he allowed us to keep the money seized from the clerks who committed crimes for local use, but he has also added officials to observe customs and regulate social practices to run official newspapers and official newspapers."

"With this, and the newly added patrol inspection offices, we have soldiers, money, and our own mouths. What can't we do?"

Shu Sheng then asked about Gui E and Yan Song.

Yan Song nodded and said, "Your Majesty asked me to come to Huguang specifically to clear your names."

Shu Sheng and Gui E were both moved by this and praised the emperor's great grace.

Yan Song continued, "In this case, it is not enough to just let the children speak in slang. My plan is to use the funds allocated by Your Majesty to hire people to post notices everywhere, denouncing the so-called "competing with the people for profit" that confuses right and wrong, and even to teach the rich to know that lending at low interest rates is beneficial to the long-term stability of the country, and not to be short-sighted and lose their own interests, so as to further correct the public opinion."

"Then I suggest using the royal family's descendants to do this missionary work."

Gui E, who is keen on innovation and has always been quick-witted, put forward his own suggestions at this time.

Shu Sheng asked: "How do you say it?"

Snapped!
Yan Song slammed the table and stood up: "What the military commander said is really brilliant!"

Shu Sheng shuddered, and then had to think seriously.

"The clan system should also be changed."

"In the Huguang region, there are too many royal family members, and they have become a burden to the court. The key is that because the current price is not as good as it was a few years ago, many distant royal family members can no longer make a living on the rice salary set at the beginning of the country. One reason is that the price of salt has increased, and the other is that the price of cloth has also increased many times. Many families with many people live almost like beggars."

"So, why not hire them to do this missionary work, give them cotton cloth as food for the workers, so that they can also do something for the government, and not live on the salary in vain."

Gui E said at this time.

Yan Song followed up, "Yes, and these royal family members are royal family members after all. Who dares to offend them when they preach the new policies? Whoever offends them will be in trouble!"

Shu Sheng also understood it by now, and nodded, saying, "According to the ancestral system, clan members are only not allowed to serve as officials or engage in the four occupations of the people. Being hired to help the government with education is not included in the four occupations of the people, so it can be implemented this way."

Gui E said, "Then when we distribute the rice, we can hire these royal family members to be responsible for the missionary work."

Yan Song nodded.

Lieutenant Zhu Xuzhen of Fengguo did not expect that when he came to collect his salary, he would also get a job of distributing and reading denunciations. Although the salary was only one stone of grain per month, it was enough for him to live a much more comfortable life.

So, he accepted the job, and together with several other members of the royal family who also accepted the job, they went to the streets every day to post notices.

"It is absurd to compete with the people for profit. The monks and nuns in Buddhist temples and the gentry who donate large amounts of land to build ancestral temples are the ones who are competing with the country for profit and the people for land..."

Xiang Wending looked at the poster posted at the gate of Wuchang City. Then he heard Zhu Xuzhen reading the contents of the poster aloud. His face darkened and he asked Zhu Xuzhen:
"Who told you to do this? Was it Yan Qianxian's idea?!"

Zhu Xuzhen ignored him and continued reading.

Coincidentally, the inspector Chai Wen also appeared here at this time:

"Reply to Xiang Gong's question! If you don't answer, I will arrest you!"

"Whether I am guilty or not, you have no right to arrest me because I am a lieutenant of the royal family and the country!"

"The common people are afraid of you, but I am not!"

Zhu Xuzhen took out his voucher which was already in the royal family's jade book. After Chai Wenhe showed it to Wen Ding, he had to leave in disgrace.

"Feng Xian, tell me, what on earth does Yan Weizhong want to do?!"

"What is he going to do?!"

Xiang Wendi only spoke to Chai Wen in a low and gnashing voice after he left.

Chai Wen followed and sighed, "Yes, what on earth does he want to do! If he does this, he will probably insult the gentry and destroy Buddhism!"

……

"I have no intention of doing anything. I am just following the emperor's order to guide public opinion. Mr. Xiang is a wise man here and a famous talent. Therefore, since I, Yan Song, am responsible for observing the customs and rectifying the habits, I have no choice but to come and visit him."

After Xiang Wending returned home, Yan Song suddenly came to his house and said that he wanted to visit him in person, and talked to him about this.

Xiang Wending had to force a smile and asked, "I am a retired official with little rank, what can I ask for? But since you are here, I have to entertain you with simple tea and food. But if I am disrespectful, please forgive me."

"No problem. Just take me to Gong's study. I want to see what a great man like Gong has written and what books and articles he has collected."

Yan Song replied.

Xiang Wending was stunned and said with a smile: "What's so good about this? What I have collected are just some things that are not worthy of being displayed in a noble hall."

“You must see it!”

"I have been ordered to come to Huguang to observe the customs and rectify the habits. If I don't read the articles and poems of the local gentry and wise men, and if I don't check what books they have privately collected, how can I understand the local scholars' habits and rectify the local customs?"

Yan Song suddenly replied sternly.

(End of this chapter)