The election itself is uncertain, as long as everyone is in charge, it is likely that there will be something uncontrollable, not to mention that there is a person who is stronger than the predetermined candidate, even if there is a person with poor ability but good popularity, it is not impossible to select the predetermined person. The latest free chapters of the book can be found here. If someone privately gives some favor to the person who comes to the election, then it is likely that a person who is nothing will let the more capable person stand aside. Gao Panlong's words seem to be a bit unfounded, and he is still saying that the election of deputies has not yet talked about the election of officials and auxiliary ministers, and he is already in the future, but it is better to plan early than to be caught off guard temporarily.

**Xing said at this time: "Brother Gao's is too far, but in the future, it is also necessary for the people to directly elect officials, because the people also like an official they like." There is a story about a state official who went to take office, and when he got out of the sedan chair, he found that the local people had put up a banner to welcome him, which said, 'The people of the whole state are celebrating, and the disaster star is sent to cover it.' When the governor saw the great joy, he asked who wrote it and he wanted to be rewarded, and who knew that the person who carried the banner thought about it for a long time and did not remember, and finally said that this banner had been there many years ago, and he used it every time he sent the old and welcomed the new, and some people seriously said to the inaugurant that he would use this banner when the next one came. ”

Liu Zongzhou laughed twice and said in a low voice: "This story sounds a little ridiculous, but when I think about it, my heart is full of taste, which shows that several governors in this state have not been able to satisfy the local people, and the people are looking forward to coming when they come, in fact, every term is a disaster, I don't know if it is the misfortune of the people or the sorrow of the officials!" ”

Gao Panlong said: "The ability of an official and whether he loves the people has a great relationship with whether the people under his rule can live a good life, but is the elected official necessarily capable?" The chosen person may say something to please people, but being able to please people doesn't necessarily lead to good deeds, right? ”

Liu Zongzhou said: "I have talked about this with the emperor twice, but there is no result, because people will change, and no one dares to guarantee that whoever will be capable, and can only be judged by the number of advantages and disadvantages." An official appointed by a small number of people or a very small number of people has two disadvantages: one is that he may not be able to do the job, and the other is that because this person is appointed by a small number of people, he will only listen to the words of the person who gave him the official position, and will not care about the interests of the people. Those elected by the people may not be able to do the job, but their official positions are given by the people, so they will listen more to the voices of the people. ”

Gao Panlong thought for a while and asked, "Does Lord Liu mean that the comparison between the two is still more inclined to be elected by the people?" But as you said, even the people elected by the people may not be able to do it, and it is indeed better than the officials appointed by the superiors, but it is only so good that it is fifty steps and a hundred steps. ”

Liu Zongzhou said: "Then how can we ensure that all officials are competent? ”

Gao Panlong said: "In fact, the emperor has long seen this problem, so he sent the original patrol to the counties to be full-time county supervisors. The auxiliary officials came up with ideas, the administrative officials made decisions, and the supervising officials grasped the direction, which was set by the emperor, and there were some feasible ones, and in time it should be able to ensure that officials everywhere could do things well. ”

Liu Zongzhou said: "Even so, the two are better than the elected officials, which is better to please the superior or the subordinate, I don't need to say, the original thinking of the senior is that the people and the officials should follow the people, is it possible that your thinking has changed now?" ”

Gao Panlong sighed and said: "It's not that I have changed, but now it is different from before, and I always think that the people come first in my heart." The problem is that the current situation is the same as you said, that is, everything is based on the prestige of the emperor, and if we want to weaken the emperor's authority before we have the strong support of other forces, it is very likely that in the end the emperor will not support us, and the ministers and people of the Manchu dynasty will also oppose it. People want to do things to exert force, and they must always stand in a solid place to use their strength, right? Suspended in mid-air, where to borrow power and how to exert force? ”

Hearing this, ** Xing smiled and said: "This is the third thing, that is, the supervisor is too idle. At the beginning, it was already said that the deputies should be elected first, and then the officials would be elected, so let's get the emperor to agree to do this step by step, and from my observation of the emperor in the past two or three years, the emperor should agree to elect the deputies. At that time, once the emperor has an unfavorable opinion, we can stop at any time, and as long as he does not say that it is not possible to elect representatives, we can further propose to elect officials. Of course, this should be a long time later, I don't know if I can see it, and there is no need for us to start a dispute now for many years from now, and talk about the matter of the supervisor first. ”

Gao Panlong said: "The so-called supervision of the administration is to only supervise the words and deeds of the governors, so that their usual behavior is consistent with their bold words when they first took office, and when they come forward to deal with special affairs under special circumstances." Just as a person who wants to go up a ladder needs another person to help him carry the ladder and point him in the direction, and when the ladder is about to fall, he is responsible for holding the ladder and not letting it fall. In this sense, the supervisor is the one who moves his mouth to look at the direction, usually has nothing to do, and plays a role at the critical moment, isn't it good for such a person to be a little idle? If they're really busy all day, we shouldn't be able to sleep again. ”

**Xing said: "At the beginning, I already said that the supervisors are all people who went out from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and many of them are young people from my Donglin Academy, who supervise government affairs all over the country, and they can just establish a kind of trust with the local people, instead of drinking tea and playing chess every day to live." Brother Gao, think about it, if these supervisors can really establish a kind of trust with the people, even if they understand what the people want and need, will they be able to deal with special things calmly and handily when the time comes? ”

Gao Panlong thought for a while and said: "At first, he was a businessman and now he is a common man, although the emperor doesn't care about anything, he is more sensitive to the soldiers, businessmen and ordinary people. Even if we can find a reason that the emperor can't refuse to do so, then how can we gain the trust of the people? ”

**Xing said: "I have already said at the beginning, we don't want to go against the emperor or deceive the emperor, we just want to implement my Donglin Academy's ideas while doing things that are beneficial to the country." Emperor Zhengchao understands but he doesn't understand when he gets sick in his life, this emperor understands that he doesn't necessarily understand that another person will sit on the throne a hundred years later, or that sentence can't learn from Wang Anshi and Zhang Juzheng, and can't pin the country's elimination on personal prestige. As for what reason to find to gain the trust of the people, I think of something that the emperor proposed and practiced but few people continue to practice now, that is, dialogue on an equal footing. ”

Liu Zongzhou also nodded and said: "Equal dialogue means that the two sides of the dialogue, regardless of identity and status, regardless of knowledge and wealth, sit down and talk together as equals, in the words of the emperor, in this place, only look at who says it reasonably, not who said it." If the supervisor can carry out an equal dialogue with the people when he is fine, then the people can go to him if they have anything that they can't figure out or don't understand, and over time they will naturally have a sense of closeness and trust in him. ”

Gao Panlong asked: "Those supervisors are all six-rank officials, and even seventh-grade officials are not allowed to easily go to the countryside to disturb the people. And will those Hanlin people feel that it is a loss of face to sit with ordinary people? In addition, there are as few as 30,000 to more than 108,000 people in a county, and even if there are an average of 50,000 people in a county who have to solve problems every day, I don't know how many people have to solve problems every day, and the supervisor may not be able to keep busy without eating or sleeping with so many people on an equal footing, right? ”

Liu Zongzhou shook his head and said: "When the emperor first sat down with the six and seven officials to discuss military affairs, many people felt panicked at first, but later they got used to it and didn't feel anything wrong. The emperor doesn't feel embarrassed to do that, are those people more expensive than the emperor? As for saying that it is not allowed to go to the countryside to disturb the people, it is completely a matter of the system, as long as the emperor agrees to solve the problem with a piece of paper. Only the last problem is more difficult to handle, and it is really impossible for one person to solve the difficulties of tens of thousands of people, but if the number of people is increased, the quality of the supervisors will change, and dialogue on an equal footing can only be done by the way, and it is their duty to supervise government affairs. ”

After being silent for a while, ** Xing said: "I also read the report sent by Yang Lian, and he has a proposal to use civil lawyers to speak on behalf of the people, and even enter the auxiliary government agency to do things, which I don't agree with very much." Lawyers are called litigators among the people, saying that they deceive their superiors and subordinates and make profits from them, and the reason is that they only recognize money and do not recognize reason, and such people are even more lawless when they do bad things as representatives. But I wonder if such a person can be used to help the magistrate to talk to the people on an equal footing. ”

Gao Panlong asked: "Since civil lawyers are so unbearable, why do you still use them?" And what is the reason why it can be used here and can't be used there? ”

**Xing said: "Civil lawyers are hated because they want to get the most benefits in representing cases, which is understandable, after all, others are eating this bowl of rice, and they don't have money to do things, and it is a matter of offending people, such people have been prostitutes since ancient times." They are used because they understand the world and are not as difficult to communicate as ordinary people. They are not used in the matter of deputies because a representative wants to make decisions and handle affairs between the government and the people, and people like lawyers are not suitable for such things, and they are used to assist officials in dialogue with the people on an equal footing, but it should be no problem for them to handle written affairs and not be allowed to make their own opinions. ”

Gao Panlong thought for a while and said: "You have convinced me, since this is the case, then it is up to you, tomorrow we will write a piece of music for King Xin to see, and by the way, Lord Xu will also be called to see what is wrong, as long as the two of them agree, they will present it to the emperor." ”

Liu Zongzhou asked: "Lord Gao is not afraid of what the emperor is taboo about?" ”

Gao Panlong said: "The emperor agrees with us first and then does, even if there is anything like this, there is no responsibility for us, and as we said at the beginning, we are just in line with the attitude of being responsible for the imperial court, which is not only a supplement to the emperor's system, but also does not lose the purpose of my Donglin Academy." As people often say, it is not a matter to succeed in one thing, but it is good to be successful in two or more things. ”