Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 47: Danchu Administration
After establishing his authority, Cen Danchu dismissed the officials in the provincial government, leaving only three officials: the prefect Wei Shizhong, the household secretary, and the criminal secretary.

The imperial court had six ministries, namely the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishments, and the Ministry of Works. The prefecture and county government offices had six corresponding departments, namely the Personnel Department, the Revenue Department, the Rites Department, the Military Department, and the Works Department.

Generally speaking, the six ministries can be evaluated by the six words "rich, powerful, poor, and humble". Among them, the Ministry of Personnel is noble, the Ministry of Revenue is rich, the Ministry of Justice is powerful, the Ministry of War is powerful, the Ministry of Rites is poor, and the Ministry of Works is humble. The same is true for the six departments of prefectures and counties.

The head of each clerk is called Sili, also known as Jingcheng, or more commonly, Fangshu. For example, the head of the criminal department is called Xingshu, and the head of the household department is called Hushu.

In the Ming Dynasty, the system of legal advisors was not yet popular. In the prefecture and county government offices, the six-room secretary was the person who actually handled government affairs. Although his position was not high, his role was very obvious. Especially the criminal secretary and household secretary, one was in charge of punishment and public security, and the other was in charge of money, grain, taxes and labor service, and they were at the core of local government affairs.

Wei Shizhong was born into a civil service family and considered himself a capable official. When he saw that Danchu did not retain even the Tongzhi and Tongpan, but left the criminal books and household books, he knew that Danchu was well versed in the people's affairs and could not be easily fooled.

Both Xingshu and Hushu were natives of Yongan, and their duties were inherited from generation to generation. One was well versed in laws and regulations, while the other knew a lot about people, land, and money.

Criminal cases are most closely related to local public security. The Ming and Qing dynasties attached great importance to precedents, and criminal sentences must be based on precedents. Therefore, the laws of the Ming and Qing dynasties were often referred to as statutes. Officials were familiar with poetry and books, but not statutes, and had to rely on criminal books when it came to criminal cases.

Needless to say, the Hufang was in charge of population, household registration, land, finance, taxes, corvée, disaster relief and other matters. The number of population and land in prefectures and counties, and the number of land and population of rich households, officials and gentry, had always been a muddled account. The true situation was only known in the Hushu, which was passed down from father to son and brother to brother, and was a secret that could not be passed on.

The Xingshu was the most powerful, and the Hushu was the richest. They were the most prominent officials in the prefectures and counties. Officials headed by the Xingshu and Hushu inherited the title from generation to generation, controlled the local areas, and were very powerful in front of the people. At the moment, these two people thought that Danchu was going to take action against them, and they were all sitting on pins and needles, not daring to look up.

When Danchu saw this, he smiled at He Yun and said, "Who is Xingshu?"

"I'm here." A middle-aged man in his forties stood up and responded.

"Please take a seat. All other officials have left. You don't have to be restrained in front of me."
Danchu put on a friendly face and said, "I heard that the order and disorder of prefectures and counties are most closely related to criminal law. The quality of criminal law is closely related to criminal law. Yong'an Prefecture is known to be difficult to govern. Tell me, what is the difficulty?"

Xing Shu looked at Wei Shizhong, then at Danchu, and quickly lowered his head, stammering, "Reply, reply, reply...Replying to the Marshal, Yong'an Prefecture is difficult to govern, mainly because there are many Yao and Dong people in the prefecture, accounting for more than 70% of the population.

"Yong'an is located in a remote area with small farmland, dangerous mountains and streams, and many Yao and Dong nests. The cunning and vicious Yao and Dong people often make friends with the bandits in Lipu and Datongxia, and go in and out of Guangdong and Guangxi to commit robbery."

Xing Shu was still a little nervous in front of Dan Chu, and he spoke stutteringly, and he couldn't continue talking when he got to this point.

Wei Shizhong saw this and interrupted:
"General, I will try to explain a few things. Yong'an Prefecture was called Lishan County in ancient times (now Mengshan County). In the 18th year of Hongwu, the bandit leader Huang Ri Nuan attacked the county town. At that time, the great ancestor recuperated at home and conquered the Northern Yuan Dynasty abroad, so he abolished the county seat and only set up the Gumei Inspection Office to control it.

"After that, Yao and Dong rebellions occurred one after another. For example, in the first year of Chenghua, the bandit chieftain Hou Dagou of Da Tengxia rebelled, and the Yao and Dong in Yong'an, Xiuren, Lipu, and Pingle responded. In order to strengthen the border, the court re-established Yong'an Prefecture, but the Yao and Dong rebellions were still not eradicated."

"Yeah," Danchu nodded and praised, "Although you are just an official, you know all about Yong'an's situation. It shows that you have put in a lot of effort."

Wei Shizhong was somewhat flattered and said quickly, "I dare not, the Marshal is too kind to praise you."

"I heard that you have been the prefect for many years and have made great achievements. Yong'an is known to be difficult to govern, and the situation has been chaotic in recent years, but Yong'an is much more peaceful. May I ask, what is the secret behind this?"

Wei Shizhong dared not tell the truth: "There are many Yao and Dong in Yong'an. If the Yao and Dong are peaceful, Yong'an will be governed. Wei is not very skilled, so he mainly relies on the Mo family. In the sixth year of Chunxi in the Song Dynasty, the Mo family donated money to build a stone bridge in front of the state office, and was commended by the government, and gradually became a big family in Yong'an." After that, no matter which dynasty or generation, the Mo family always stayed close to the government and mediated between Han and Yao. When the Yao and Dong rebelled in the Ming Dynasty, the government often sent the Mo family to pacify them, and it was always effective. During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, the court decided to restore Yong'an Prefecture. The Mo family donated land to build a city and pacify the barbarians and Yao. The court also reciprocated by exempting the descendants of the Mo family from labor service forever.

"Therefore, if the Marshal wants to govern Yong'an, he might as well ask the Mo family to do it. Only if the Mo family is willing to serve the Marshal, Yong'an will have a chance of great governance."

So that's it. When officials govern local areas, they often rely on local gentry. Wei Shizhong has been working in prefectures and counties all his life, so he is naturally well aware of this.

As for Guangxi, it is different from other places. Guangxi is an important frontier town with many ethnic minorities. In the southwest, there are many chieftains, and the control of the imperial court is weak. Since the migration to the south, the imperial court has lost its prestige and has become even weaker in controlling the chieftains.

Danchu could not help thinking that if he could gain independence in the future, he would have to build a solid base. Yunnan and Guizhou already had the Dashi Army, and Guangdong was an important place for food and wages, so he could only find a base in Guangxi.

Among them, Liuzhou in western Guangxi and Nanning in southern Guangxi are the most suitable for bases. Both places have Yao and Dong ethnic minorities, and learning how to handle ethnic relations will be of great benefit to the construction of bases.

Although Wei Shizhong was a cunning official, he had rich experience in governance and had some good qualities.

Danchu remained calm and asked, "I heard that some local big families took over lawsuits and concealed money and grain. How about this Mo family?"

Wei Shizhong said without hesitation: "The Mo family is a family of poetry, literature and etiquette. They are good at managing money and are quite wealthy with extensive land. During the Chenghua period, the government troops abused force and falsely accused the people of being bandits. The Yao people fought desperately and refused to surrender. The court sent tens of thousands of troops and spent millions of silver, but still failed to subdue the Yao people.

"Later, the imperial court used both suppression and appeasement. The Mo family went to recruit the Yao people and persuaded the state officials to incorporate the Yao and Dong people into the civilian households and make them good citizens forever. Since then, the Mo family has been treated as a 'village drinker' and later as a 'guest of the whole village drink', which gave them great prestige in front of the Yao and Dong people. The Yao people were grateful for their kindness and gave them tea, indigo, ginger and taro every year, three catties each, and this continues to this day."

Hearing the words "registered as civilian households", Danchu understood. The Ming Dynasty implemented a strict household registration system, with civilian households, military households, and artisan households, which were inherited from generation to generation and could not be changed. Military households and artisan households were like slaves and lived a miserable life.

In addition, there were low-class people and barbarians, whose living conditions were lower than those of military households and artisan households.

Mo was able to register the Yao people as civilian households, which theoretically gave them the same status as Han farmers. Naturally, the Yao people's descendants were grateful to him.

Guangxi has many ethnic minorities, and the government has loose control over the local areas. Tusi is the local emperor, with Tusi soldiers; there are also large families like the Mo family, which have a long family history, popular support, and complex power, which is of great value for united front work.

"What position does the Mo family take in the conflict between Ming and Qing dynasties?" He Yun had been silent for a long time and interrupted to ask.

Wei Shizhong replied: "Mr. Mo firmly supports the Ming Dynasty and has refused to shave his hair until now. He has organized a militia. When the Qing invaders occupied Yong'an, Mr. Mo built a fort to defend himself and refused to shave his hair. The invaders could do nothing about it."

"Good." Danchu was very happy and said, "Ask the head of the Mo family to come and see me tomorrow. No, I will go there to visit tomorrow. You go to the Mo family today to deliver a letter and announce your intention."

The prefect became Danchu's errand boy, but he dared not disobey and quickly replied, "Yes."

(End of this chapter)