Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 364 Reform the Ministry of Personnel and stop donations!

Because most of the ministers in the court supported the proposal of Minister of War Li Chengxun, in the end, it was decided that the two million shi of grain as compensation would be used to offset the military pay for the nine frontiers to be sent by the Ministry of War.

Zhu Houcong was naturally satisfied with this result.

What made him even more satisfied was that this showed that most of the ministers in the court had begun to serve the country with a public spirit.

However, the minister of the court who had a background in border affairs looked at Li Chengxun with dissatisfaction.

But it was just dissatisfaction, and no one dared to stand up directly to confront the imperial power and the majority of bureaucrats in the entire court who supported this resolution.

As for how Hinode Town is ruled.

The various ministries were arguing over the number of officials and soldiers to be stationed. In the end, the court decided based on the compromise of the various ministries to appoint a pacification envoy, who would be an official of the Right Censor-in-Chief; and to appoint a deputy pacification envoy, who would be an official of the Vice Governor-General of the Central Army, who would be in charge of 5,000 cavalry and infantry on land and 3,000 naval soldiers to prepare for war against the Japanese.

For the bureaucrats who only wanted to save as much money as possible, it was a rare thing that they were willing to stop disobeying the emperor's will and send officers and soldiers to station abroad. Naturally, in determining the number of personnel to be stationed, in order to save military expenditure, they would try to send as few as possible. It was only after a long debate under the premise that Zhu Houcong encouraged them to tell the truth that they finally decided to send only an army of 8,000 people.

For them, an expenditure of eight thousand yuan is at least acceptable, but if another five or ten thousand yuan is added, it seems that they would think that the emperor is ignoring the people's sentiments and national conditions.

Zhu Houcong could accept this. In his view, the size of the military force that Japan could organize was limited, and they were all fighting on their own. The Ming Dynasty had an advantage in equipment. A permanent military force of 8,000 could not completely control Japan, but it would be enough to protect itself and intimidate the daimyos in various parts of Japan.

As for the officials sent there, the ministers in the court also debated whether sending people to serve in such a faraway overseas place should be considered as demotion to a remote place or as an important position.

In the end, Zhu Houcong decided on the appointment method himself, saying that since he was going there as a court official, it could not be considered demotion to a remote place, but rather an important position. It was just that serving overseas would indeed be daunting due to too many difficulties and obstacles, and would feel that it was not much different from exile, or even worse than exile. After all, exile was at least in Central China, and there was a greater hope of returning home alive. So the system of officials submitting self-recommendations instead of pre-recommendations by the Ministry of Personnel was changed, and the emperor would then decide whether to appoint after recommendation by the court or directly.

At this point, the only thing left regarding the affairs of the East was that the Otomo clan asked the Ming dynasty to stop the invasion of the Ouchi clan.

Zhu Houcong directly asked the cabinet to approve it, and asked Huo Tao to tell the Ouchi clan that if they were unwilling to cease fire, the Ming Dynasty would directly send troops to attack the Ouchi clan, and the expenditure would ultimately have to be borne by the Ouchi clan.

"I am the ruler of the world, and I shall make the world peaceful and prosperous!"

"Therefore, not only should Huo Tao be allowed to stop the Ouchi clan from raising troops, but he should also be allowed to do things at his own discretion and mediate other unprovoked invasions by the Japanese pirates. If he can stop them in time, he should stop them in time. If he cannot stop them, he should report to the court."

Zhu Houcong also talked about this matter in the imperial study and added a few more words.

Yang Yiqing and others bowed in agreement.

After Zhu Houcong had the cabinet approve the approval of the inspector-general to mediate the affairs of the East, he asked about the financial situation in order to rectify the Ministry of Personnel: "Have the taxes paid by the imperial merchants for their purchases been shipped? How much tax has been paid?"

"Your Majesty, according to the report from the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, more than 5 million tax silver has been shipped."

Yang Yiqing replied at this time.

It turned out that since Zhu Houcong established the imperial merchant system, he asked the Ministry of Revenue to discuss and set up the imperial merchant tariff system to make up for the increased expenses of the court in protecting the imperial merchant trade routes.

Moreover, tariffs were levied when the imperial merchants purchased goods, so the tariffs were paid when the imperial merchants went out to sea. This was equivalent to the imperial court getting a share of one year's maritime trade profits before the imperial merchants sold the goods.

This tax will be escorted to Beijing in advance according to the shipping ratio.

After hearing this, Zhu Houcong thought of the fact that the foreign court had already owed more than 3 million yuan in debt, so he asked, "Adding the 2 million dan of grain compensation from the Japanese, how much will be left after paying off the debt?"

"There are still about two million silver dollars left." Yang Yiqing replied.

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this: "It seems that this way, not only can we reverse the predicament of eating the next year's food in the current year, but we can also have some surplus."

"This is all due to your Majesty's good governance."

Yang Yiqing replied at this time.

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this and said, "But we can't just rest on our laurels. The tariffs have to be increased. We can only ship 5 million, which means smuggling has not been completely banned. We need to continue to strengthen maritime supervision! However, we are not in a hurry for now. Instead, we should really reorganize and reform the Ministry of Personnel, otherwise it will be difficult for the government to remain clean and honest! We can't always hope that the Minister of Personnel is prestigious and courageous enough? Moreover, if the government cannot be clean and honest all the time, no matter how strong the maritime supervision is, it will be useless."

"Therefore, I intend to use this money to rectify the Ministry of Personnel. The first thing to do is to stop the donation and change the clerks into officials."

"As the head of the six ministries, the Ministry of Personnel cannot continue to be controlled by clerks."

"In addition, if additional official positions are needed, they should be created and filled by former clerks and scholars who have passed the imperial examinations. If there are not enough, they should be selected from graduates of the Practical School through examinations."

Zhu Houcong expressed his idea of ​​reforming the Ministry of Personnel.

Therefore, Yang Yiqing and other cabinet ministers followed the emperor's order and issued a reform edict to the Ministry of Personnel.

After receiving the imperial edict, the Minister of Personnel Zhao Huang did not object, but said with emotion: "Only a dynasty like yours could implement such a reform!"

"But this reform will not only reduce the income of the Ministry of Personnel from donations, but also make the wealthy families lose the opportunity to manipulate local administration by donating money to send their children to serve as officials."

"Even if we dare to implement it, the officials and wealthy families below us will be dissatisfied and will try every means to stop us."

Wang Xuekui, Langzhong of the Ministry of Literature, put forward his own views.

Zhao Huang said: "The ministers will raise these issues before the emperor. We just need to notify them and prepare for the ministerial discussion."

Wang Xuekui nodded: "Well, it doesn't matter! If nothing unexpected happens, they will definitely report more positions they need. The work that originally only requires one person will be reported as requiring three officials to do it."

Zhao Huang said: "Our dynasty is entering a period of prosperity and rejuvenation. The annual revenue is increasing greatly. It is a good thing to increase the number of officials and ensure that there are no vacancies left out in the countryside!"

Yang Yiqing and others did indeed speak in front of the emperor about how the changes in the Ministry of Personnel were intended to reduce the power of the rich and powerful and cut the income of officials in the Ministry of Personnel. They also pointed out that this would cause the Ministry of Personnel to falsely report the number of additional officials.

"Your Majesty, the donation system began during the Jingtai Dynasty. It is a way for the rich to seize power over the government."

"If the supply is suddenly cut off now, they might instigate thieves to cause trouble in the local area, destroying the local peace and forcing the court to increase officials and expenditures, and ultimately forcing the court to have redundant staff and aggravate the problem!"

"At the same time, the Ministry of Personnel will also promote this matter because of the cut-off of donation income, and falsely report the need for more official positions."

Yang Yiqing raised these concerns in front of the emperor.

Zhu Houcong nodded and said:

"I am not afraid of redundant staff, but I am afraid that no one wants to be an official. They only want to spend money to let their own children or even servants become officials through donations, and control the officialdom. They themselves stay at home and become the emperor of the night, not taking the government or even the court seriously. As for the financial problems caused by redundant staff, don't worry, I will find a way! Since I dare to increase the number of officials, I will naturally dare to work hard to increase the financial resources for the court!"

(End of this chapter)