It is often said that northerners are upright and southerners have many eyes, but when it comes to elected officials, people on both sides of the north and south show the same face, that is, they are at a loss and do not know what to do. In the past, the villagers were all well-known and respected people, and the people who elected them were either rich or noble, and it was indeed the first time that ordinary people were elected for the election, and everyone had no psychological preparation. The so-called "rich or noble" refers to the local large families or those who have worked as errands in the county, and in their eyes, only the people they recommend are trustworthy people, and there is no concept that the minority obeys the majority.

Even among the earliest troublemakers around Nanjing, they did not have the concept of equal participation in a fair election, and all they thought about was how to push their own people to work for the benefit of their families. This is true on the part of the electees, and on the part of the electors, there is another view, that is, the ordinary people are not qualified to come out to vote, and in the eyes of these rich and landlords, the ordinary people are barely regarded as one person when they eat and do things, and the election of officials is a high-level activity that has nothing to do with them.

Gao Panlong: They knew the meaning of the apocalypse when they implemented it on the ground, and emphasized that the election voting was one person, one vote, including women over the age of 16. Female officials had been appointed a few years earlier, and many palace maids came and went every year, and these palace maids who had learned a lot of knowledge in the palace were entrusted with important tasks after returning to their hometowns, mainly to promote equality between men and women, and to demand that every place should give women the right to be paid for their work. Although only a few years later, there has been little movement, and there has been only some progress in home textiles and women's literacy, but it has indeed given the concept of equality between men and women everywhere.

As soon as the demand for equal voting rights between men and women was raised, it was opposed by many people, because many families did not want their female dependents to participate in the election, and finally made a small concession and allowed women to fill out their ballots at home for men to bring in, as is the case with home textiles.

If there has been some turmoil over the issue of equal voting between men and women, then there has been a big dispute over who to elect, because they all want to let others go up and no one else can go up, and there has been no result for more than a month. But it's no wonder that everyone's original intention was to choose one of their own people to speak for themselves, and they didn't think about how to speak for all the people, let alone how to choose a person who was useful to both the upper and lower levels.

After repeated deliberations and inquiries, Gao Panlong and the others finally understood the minds of these people, and finally came up with a way to select a person from each township to serve as the head of the township, and the main responsibility of this township chief is to convey the orders of the county, and is also responsible for responding to the requirements of the township to the county. At the same time, the clan elders of each village can go to the township at any time to inquire about the county's system, and they can also go directly to the county to inquire whether the township chief is deceiving his superiors and subordinates, and if he suspects that the township chief is abusing his power for personal gain, he can directly respond to the county and ask for a reply.

After so much balancing, the people of all parts of the country tentatively agreed to elect the mayor of the township by the minority obeying the majority, and what everyone wanted was the privilege of being above others, but now without privilege they needed a guarantee that others would not be above their heads. This kind of thinking of the Chinese is the same throughout the ages, that is, people often say that they want to be a superior person, and if they cannot be a superior person, they cannot let others ride on their heads.

After several months of hard work and communication, the counties of the experiment finally reluctantly elected their respective township heads, and after a period of observation, Gao Panlong and others found some problems, thinking that they should give Tianqi an explanation, so they entered the palace with Liu Zongzhou to report to Tianqi.

After listening to Gao and Liu's careful explanations, Tianqi had a general understanding in his heart, he thought for a while and asked: "Everything has a process from scratch and then from coarse to fine, you start to say good news and bad news, so what do you think is good and what are bad?" ”

Gao Panlong said: "The good news is that the power of the court is exercised to the township level, after this time the ministers know that in fact, many people in my Ming Dynasty do not have a clear concept of the court in their hearts, they only think of a court when they pay taxes and go out to serve, and other times only listen to the village elders and local village elders, and many people even think that the county prince follows the emperor every day." Now the election of the township chief makes them understand that the power of the imperial court is the greatest, and the heart of the imperial court is to care for the people, and they can decide whether the township chief will go or stay. ”

Tianqi nodded and said: "Yes, the imperial power does not go down to the county, which means that the people in the countryside do not feel the majesty and care of the imperial court, maybe one day they will be indifferent to the change of dynasty, and it has nothing to do with them who thinks about who sits in the world." However, it is also understandable that the county order in the county can make a normal family ruined, and the township elders can control the rise and fall of a family, whether it is the county order in the county or the township elders, they are not able to change. It should be a good thing that this inability to change the reason why they have become indifferent to the system of the imperial court is that you are now arousing their sense of autonomy. ”

Gao Panlong said: "The second good thing is that the newly elected township chiefs have become diligent, and they have become easier to talk to than the township elders elected in the past. In each of the counties of the experiment, the prefectural ordinances of each prefecture were not very fond of it at first, and they felt that this was a redundant move to change the existing rules, but now that the township chiefs in various places have undergone such a change, the prefectural ordinances of each prefecture, including the auxiliary magistrates, have become overjoyed. ”

Tianqi said: "In this way, this elected official is indeed a great thing, which not only stimulates the people's sense of autonomy, but also makes the county officials feel the new effect of new things, which is also in line with the principle of our earliest consultation, that is, whether it is elected or elected by the people, it must be satisfied by both superiors and subordinates." There may always be imperfections in the first birth of new things, but as long as we slowly improve and make up for them in the spirit of satisfying everyone at the top and bottom, we will be able to make perfect things one day. ”

Liu Zongzhou said at this time: "There are positive and negative things in everything, and although the elected officials have discovered two benefits that have not been discovered before, they have also discovered several new problems. Let's just say that the old villagers, they are generally highly respected people who can speak in the township, and if the county has any tasks and orders for them to do, they will generally do it well and fairly. But the township chiefs elected now are not candidates who are convinced by all parties, they do things straightforwardly and do not have so many words, and many people do not agree too much with these newly elected township chiefs. ”

Gao Panlong also said at this time: "Yes, Your Majesty, the old villagers used their virtue and prestige to do things, and they did things fairly and persuaded people to speak tactfully. Because the current township chief does not get the respect that the old villagers received, it will be difficult for him to do things, and over time, he will definitely use his power to do things roughly, and when the time comes, it may arouse public anger. It is said that there has been such a thing, that is, the newly elected township chief does not like to be so tactful persuasion, and the county can persuade these people after receiving the report, but it cannot always hope for constant persuasion, there should be something institutional. ”

Tianqi said: "The elderly are experienced and have good tempers, even if they used to be hot-tempered, they must have subdued their tempers when they are old, and it is understandable that young people are not so impatient." You say that after a long time, those newly elected township chiefs will definitely do things roughly, which is definitely not good, and if you are rude, others will definitely be wronged, and they will think that they are not as good as the previous township elders, and then they will doubt the rationality of the elected officials. ”

Liu Zongzhou asked: "Then what good way does the emperor have?" ”

Tianqi thought for a while and said: "Everyone has their own ideas, it is impossible for everyone to agree with you and obey you, there are only two ways to make different people respect you, one is to use force and power to force others, and the other is to use deception." ”

Gao Panlong was a little curious about why the Apocalypse said to deceive, and asked, "Does the emperor mean to ask those township chiefs to deceive people?" ”

Apocalypse said: "It is not a good habit to deceive people, but it is better to deceive people than to overpower people, to put it exaggeratedly, if you have to make concessions in one thing, there are two kinds of people who choose to make you make concessions, one is a real villain, and the other is a hypocrite, which one do you think makes you feel better?" ”

Gao Panlong thought for a while and said: "If you really have to lose something, and the ministers are selected to execute the hypocrite instead of the real villain, at least the hypocrite can still say some heart-warming words, and the real villain may be sarcastic and ridiculed to make people angry." ”

Tianqi smiled: "Isn't this right, the order of the imperial court is sent to the county, and the order of the county is sent to the village, which is irreversible, and it is impossible to change even the county order, how can a township chief change the county order in order to please the people?" If there is a situation where the people of the county order do not understand, there are only two ways: one is to ignore the imposition of force, and the other is to persuade with clever words and tactful persuasion, even if the persuasion says some empty words and lies to make the people have hope, I think even if it cannot be fulfilled in the end, it can be forgiven, of course, this kind of deception cannot be a random deception, but a kind deception in the last resort, everything is subject to the satisfaction of the upper and lower, and there is no need to care too much about the gains and losses of a few people, at most there is a chance to compensate them. ”

Liu Zongzhou said at this time: "Your Majesty, if you really deceive the people often, won't the people gradually lose trust in the officials in the long run?" ”

Tianqi looked at Liu Zongzhou and said, "Lord Liu, others can say this, but you can't say it, why would officials deceive the people when they have no choice but to do so?" Because the interests of the upper and lower levels have not yet been agreed. As for how to align the interests of the court and the people, this is the main research content of your holy academy. ”