Chapter 1121
Good political performance can lead to promotion, and the higher the official, the more salary and better treatment, which itself is already an incentive for officials.However, this does not conflict with other monetary rewards.If such policies could be implemented as soon as possible, I believe that Hai Rui, the direct minister during the Jiajing period, would not have such an embarrassing life!
Having said this, Emperor Chongzhen turned his head to look at the two people at the front of the queue below and said: "The specifics will be discussed by Wen Qing and Cao Daban, and I will take a look. If there is no problem, we can announce it to the world." .”

When Wen Tiren heard it, he immediately bowed and said: "This humble minister leads the decree!"

"Slaves obey the order!" At the same time, Cao Huachun also bowed and played.

However, Emperor Chongzhen obviously still had something to explain. He glanced at the officials below, and then said: "You should be able to see that the money in the treasury is filling year by year, and the growth rate is very fast. This depends on the efforts of the ministers." Efforts, and the efforts of officials at all levels in Ming Dynasty. I think that in the future, those who contribute to the court and do missions for Ming Dynasty will all receive salary from Ming Dynasty. From then on, there will be no such thing as officials, but only officials!"

Hearing this, everyone was taken aback.None of them expected that the emperor would come up with new tricks every year, and at the end of the year, he would come up with such a big move.Such a thing has never happened in China for thousands of years!

Thinking this way, for a while, no one spoke, they were all thinking about this matter in a hurry.

Emperor Chongzhen ignored them and continued to follow his own thinking: "Although the imperial court will increase a lot of salary expenses for this, I feel that this matter is very necessary. Those who contribute to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty can't treat them badly! In the past , The imperial court is poor, there is no way. But I believe that Daming will become richer and richer in the future, and the imperial court will have more money, so it can definitely pay for this expense! What do you think about this matter?"

Although at the last moment, he asked all the ministers for their opinions.But his tone was firm, almost resolute.Emperor Chongzhen unabashedly conveyed his meaning to the officials below.

After Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, the Wenhua Hall fell silent for a while, and no one immediately responded.

Emperor Chongzhen was not in a hurry, he knew that his proposal had never been made in previous dynasties, and to get these Ming Dynasty officials to accept this proposal, it was natural to give them some time.

Bi Ziyan, Minister of the Household Department, first looked up at Emperor Chongzhen, as if he wanted to speak, but remembered that although he didn't get much, he was on the list after all, and now he was still guilty, so he lowered his head again and did not speak .

But his actions were noticed by Emperor Chongzhen.He heard Emperor Chongzhen say to him: "If Bi Qing has an idea, feel free to tell me!"

Hearing this, these people immediately heard the emperor's attitude, that is, the emperor did not intend to beat them all to death with a stick!This matter is likely to be lifted high and put down gently.The reason why the emperor did this is that the law does not blame the public, or it is not easy to pursue so many high-ranking officials?After all, in this list, there are almost six high-ranking officials who are ministers and above, and they are the top part of the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty.It would be a shocking thing to put it in any dynasty.

Thinking of this, Bi Ziyan breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the officials who have paid salaries in a county are only a few people. It is dozens of times as big. If all the salaries are given to the officials, the criminal ministers in charge of the household department will really not be able to pay for this expenditure!"

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help thinking in his heart that what he said just now was in vain.This Minister of the Household Department really only cares about his eyes.But this can't be blamed on him, who told him that after industrialization, social wealth will grow at a geometric rate.The revenue of this treasury will naturally increase geometrically.In the future, the treasury revenue is estimated to be calculated in units of [-] million, not the previous million taels.Or, was Bi Ziyan frightened by the fact that rats could be starved to death in the treasury?After all, even his brother Bi Zisu, the original governor of Liaodong, committed suicide because he couldn't pay the army salary and was humiliated by Qiu Ba who was making a fuss about the salary.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen was a little embarrassed to mention that the officials he mentioned actually included those who were arrested.In the official office, there are three levels: officials, officials, and servants.These people will be regarded as civil servants in later generations, and they all receive state salaries.If there must be a different opinion, then the labor among them can be barely equal to the temporary labor of later generations.According to Emperor Chongzhen's idea, those who work in these yamen should be given salaries.

But at this time, after thinking about it, he will not promote this rank for the time being.Otherwise, if you take a big step, you may get involved in that or something.This matter will be done in two steps, and the officials' affairs will be settled first.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen said to Bi Ziyan: "At the beginning, we can do what we can and give these officials a salary that the court can afford. When the treasury has more revenue in the coming year, it can be adjusted again. As I said just now, the treasury will receive more and more revenue, and the previous embarrassment will no longer appear, so Bi Qing can rest assured."

Bi Ziyan heard that the emperor did not have a one-step idea, and he also repeatedly emphasized that the revenue of the treasury will increase.Thinking about the situation in the past few years, and looking forward to the future based on the current situation, it seems that this is really the case, so I have no more words.

Inside the Wenhua Palace, it became quiet again.Everyone saw that the Minister of the Ministry of Households actually raised objections, but although the emperor gave in, he did not give in at all to issues of principle, such as the issue of salaries for officials.At this time, they understood how determined Emperor Chongzhen was.

The silence this time didn't last too long, and Wen Tiren bowed and said: "Your Majesty, regarding the officials, to be more serious, if everything is in the hands of the subordinates, the selection can be delayed or the punishment can be delayed." It can be light or heavy, wealth can be invaded or destroyed, ceremonies can be raised or destroyed, human life can be in and out, lawsuits can be large or small, and projects can be increased or decreased. Therefore, officials are important, and ministers thought it must be taken seriously."

When Wen Tiren said this, his expression was very serious: "From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, officials were not allowed to be censors, and they were not allowed to participate in the scientific examination. Therefore, most of the officials in my Ming Dynasty were hopeless in the scientific examination. Students or people with low status. These people have no hope of future, and they will seek money and corrupt officials!"

Speaking of this, Wen Tiren bowed again, showing a hint of admiration and said: "Your Majesty, to give a salary, to be called an official, is to give him a background, and this minister thinks that it is good governance to rectify the administration of officials!"

In fact, before the Ming Dynasty, officials were not divided into families.It is very common for the Sangong and Jiuqing to be born as "officials".Even in the Song Dynasty, the difference between officials and officials was not obvious.As Wen Tiren said, only when the Ming Dynasty became the ancestor, the difference began to be revealed.The representative figure among the officials is the master.Their salaries are given by the county officials and other individuals who employ them.

Now the salaries of these officials are allotted by the imperial court as officials, which can be regarded as acknowledging their status, and on the other hand, it also reduces the burden on the chief officials.The benefits seem to be many!

If it was the past, Wen Tiren might not have dared to say this in front of the imperial court.After all, he said that because he was a little dissatisfied with Chengzu.Opinions differ, at least among officials.If he said it, he would probably be attacked by the official censor and disliked by the emperor.

However, the current emperor is the Chongzhen Emperor who traveled from later generations.His style of doing things is different from any previous emperor.Wen Tiren also knew Emperor Chongzhen well, knowing that what he said would not arouse the emperor's dissatisfaction.Or on the contrary, he was seconding the emperor's proposal.

Besides, those annoying censors have already been dealt with by the emperor.The newly established Metropolitan Procuratorate also established a system at all levels throughout the entire Ming Dynasty.They didn't have this kind of leisure, because they agreed with the emperor, they came to impeach Wen Tiren.

There was Wen Tiren's intention to take the lead in seconding the Emperor Chongzhen, and the eunuch who was in charge of the ceremony and the seal followed, and also seconded.

Generally speaking, on the side of the Supervisor of Rituals, as long as the emperor proposes, basically there will be no objection.Their butts are sitting on the emperor's side.Therefore, amidst the second voices of the eunuchs and eunuchs, the Wenhua Hall became lively again.In the end, this matter was settled like this.The specific regulations still need to be discussed by the chief assistant, Wen Tiren, and the supervisor of ceremonies.

Emperor Chongzhen was also very satisfied with this.In this meeting, several things were relatively satisfactory.The next step is to deal with the corruption incident reported by the factory guard.

As the emperor said before, if the ministries feel bad, turn themselves in, or reform themselves, there will be no punishment.But now, it was the emperor who made the evidence of these crimes public after he couldn't wait for what he wanted.In this way, even if the board is lifted high and lowered gently, it will hit the person who made the mistake.

The final result of the disposition was that Li Changgeng, the official minister with the most corruption, and the left and right servants who were not present were all demoted to Liaodong and re-appointed as county magistrates.Today, they are not qualified to stay in the official department any longer.

Xu Guangqi, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, held himself upright and performed outstandingly in the matter of equity dividends. He was transferred to the Minister of the Ministry of Officials to take charge of the promotion of officials all over the world.Although Xu Guangqi is still a minister, the Ministry of Officials is the head of the six departments. This is considered a promotion and a reward.

The post of Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites was held by Sun Yuanhua, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites.After all, Sun Yuanhua had temporarily acted as Minister of Rites when Xu Guangqi was ordered to leave Beijing, and he was Xu Guangqi's student, so he was also good at science and technology.Although Xu Guangqi has left the Ministry of Rites, there is no need to worry that Sun Yuanhua will change Xu Guangqi's policy. Cao Sui and Xiao Gui are sure of it.Regarding this point, Emperor Chongzhen was also relieved.

This imperial meeting is over.All the ministers resigned, but Xu Guangqi, the new Minister of the Ministry of Officials, stayed.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Xu Guangqi who was standing with his hands down, and asked with a smile: "You know, Xu Qing, why did I let you take the post of Minister of the Ministry of Officials?"

When Xu Guangqi heard this, he thought about it for a while. Could it be that he was upright and able to rectify the administration of officials?

Of course he is a smart person, knowing that since the emperor asked this question, it must be more than that.After thinking about it for a while, I guessed something in my heart, and immediately replied: "When I choose the low-level officials of the Ming Dynasty, I will focus on talents with knowledge of science and technology!"

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help laughing, and Xu Guangqi really guessed his intentions.

After he finished listening, he nodded and said with a smile: "Before I was in the Western Han Dynasty, there was a lot of knowledge emerging in an endless stream. Military schools, Mohists, Legalists, etc., each with their own characteristics, can be regarded as contending among a hundred schools of thought, each showing their magical powers! The splendor of cultural knowledge, It is rare in later generations. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism was the only one. But even so, Confucianism also paid attention to the six arts."

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen paused, shook his head slightly, and said with a little emotion: "But since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the imperial examinations have gradually turned to studying the Four Books and Five Classics. Stereotyped essays are the main focus, and they only think about being a Jinshi and becoming an official to make a fortune! This can’t be blamed on those scholars, I think it’s because the imperial court didn’t guide them well!”

Xu Guangqi did not speak from the beginning to the end, but listened carefully.

And Emperor Chongzhen did not allow Xu Guangqi to agree with him from time to time, but continued on his own: "I believe you can feel the power of science and technology knowledge. If the people of Ming Dynasty did not seek knowledge, understand the laws of nature, To learn the knowledge of science and technology and only read the Four Books and Five Classics, my Chinese civilization will definitely be overtaken by the Xiyi. One day in the future, when the Xiyi greatly surpasses Ming Dynasty in terms of scientific and cultural knowledge, with the barbarism of the Xiyi, At that time, it will definitely be Daming's disaster. And this, I will never allow it to happen!"

Before Emperor Chongzhen traveled to this plane, Xu Guangqi had already been obsessed with Western learning, and because of this, getting along with Western missionaries, he did not hesitate to change his beliefs, and devoted himself to learning the scientific and technological knowledge of Western Yi.In the Ming Dynasty, no one had a deeper understanding of science and technology than Xu Guangqi.

If we talk about the words of Emperor Chongzhen, others don't feel deeply, but for Xu Guangqi, they feel the deepest.Therefore, after Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, he bowed very solemnly to Emperor Chongzhen, and then solemnly and loudly assured: "This minister understands His Majesty's will, and this minister will definitely live up to His Majesty's trust!"

If at this time, regardless of disregard, scientific and technological knowledge is immediately added to the content of the imperial examination, even if the current scientific and technological knowledge has already begun to spread in Ming Dynasty, those scholars who have studied hard for ten years and suddenly added unfamiliar scientific and technological knowledge must be Extremely reluctant, there will definitely be a boycott.

However, if the imperial court begins to lean towards scientific and technological knowledge in the selection and assessment of officials, with such guidance, more scholars will read and learn scientific and technological knowledge. Speed ​​up.In this way, when the number of people who learn scientific and technological knowledge reaches a certain level, at that time, there will not be much rebound when these new knowledge are added to the imperial examination.

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(End of this chapter)

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