Gao Panlong thought that this Gao County Cheng would complain about unfairness, and he could only be a non-mainstream classic at the beginning, and others came up from the seventh grade, which really made people angry when they thought about it. Who knew that this person was actually asking about the age limit grade and the restriction of the profit cap, which made Gao Panlong puzzled.

It is the emperor's will to limit the rank of officials with age, and its intention is to avoid young people from being too impetuous and thinking about rapid promotion to produce ambitions, and using age to limit the grade of people to curb people's ambitions so that they will not expand infinitely, and can make people calm down and do things ♀ in a down-to-earth manner.

If the previous question is asked for officials, it may be because there are young people who can't get promoted and block the road to Gao Xiancheng's promotion, and it is understandable for Gao Xiancheng to ask in desperation, then the issue of the 20% profit cap limit for large merchants has nothing to do with a county. Judging from his personal information, Gao Xiancheng is about to retire and return home, and he is not doing business and teaching a few clansmen in his spare time to read, so it can be said that his question is not for himself. Several of his sons are Xiucai and are still taking the exam, and if he asks questions about the future of future generations, he may be too far away, which makes people unable to understand his true intentions.

Gao Panlong didn't think much about it while being curious, he first asked Gao Xiancheng to sit down and then let people serve tea, and then said: "Let's be honest, the purpose of this official's visit this time is not to solve Gao Xiancheng's problem, because the level difference between us is too much to reach." If the official really wants to solve your problem, you can let your boss, or even your boss's boss, ask about it, does Gao Xiancheng know what the purpose of the official coming to see you is? ”

Gao Xiancheng said in a low voice: "I was also a little puzzled, I don't know why a small matter in the county would alarm the center of the imperial court☆ The newspaper said that the imperial court would send people to gather people from all over the country for training, the purpose is to cooperate with the big iron company to open mines and build roads and other affairs, and this kind of things that benefit the country and the people are also very agreeable. It's just that later I heard that these moves came from the seventh grade, which made the lowly rank feel a little uncomfortable, so he complained a few words ♀ in the casual chat, which was just a complaint about the bad luck of the lowly grade, I don't know why it spread to Beijing, and I didn't expect that the tall man would come to ask the lowly in person. ”

Gao Panlong smiled and said: "Gao Xiancheng is an honest person, why did your complaints go directly to the capital for another reason, here the official will not say more to you." However, the inequality you mentioned is a seemingly small and important matter, and the official is here because your problem is very representative, and it does not matter whether you can solve it or not, but it is important to form a kind of admiration through the communication between us, so that the imperial court can use this kind of encouragement to obtain real information and hear the truth in the future. ”

Gao Xiancheng nodded and said: "I see, I think it's strange how a first-class member like Gao Daren would ask an eight-grade county Cheng, it stands to reason that the lowly position should not say sitting in the second hall and drinking tea, even if you want to stand and kneel, you should line up on the street outside the compound to wait." Although he is old, his health is okay, and it is incumbent on him to give the court a force, but I don't know what Lord Gao is talking about? ”

Gao Panlong nodded and said: "This Mu is an equal dialogue, that is, the two of us sit together to talk about the different opinions of both sides, and we don't have to fight for victory or loss without considering the level of our positions when talking, just to see who is reasonable." This official doesn't have much time, since Gao Xiancheng agrees, let's start. ”

After Gao Panlong finished speaking, he ordered his entourage to summon the governor of Nanzhili, the local prefect, and the county magistrate who were waiting outside, and when he saw them come in, he ordered them to sit down and speak. The governor of Nanzhili was originally a servant of the ministry, and after the merger of the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he was transferred to Nanzhili as the governor, and after seeing the old boss, he first bowed and then sat down, and the prefect and the county order also bowed and sat down, but his face was not so calm.

Gao Panlong said: "The emperor has a lot of affairs, and a while ago the Supervision Yuan was established, the purpose of which is not to solve specific problems, but mainly to supervise the normal operation of the affairs of various departments and provinces." According to the previous management, it is difficult for the subordinate officials in charge to escape responsibility, but if they really want to investigate the responsibility, it will suppress the way of speech, which is not conducive to the court hearing the truth. In order to hear the truth, in the future, an equal dialogue body will be set up throughout the country, not only by the central government, but also by all provinces, prefectures, and counties, and gradually let people tell the truth, do real things, and be real people, which is the emperor's will. ”

After listening to Gao Panlong's words, everyone got up and arched their hands and said, "The emperor is sage!" ”

Gao Panlong motioned for everyone to sit down and said, "Now let's test it first, a few of you will record, and this official and Gao Xiancheng will have an equal dialogue." ”

After speaking, he got up and asked people to put their chairs and Gao Xiancheng's chairs on both sides of the case, and told Gao Xiancheng to sit down and talk. Seeing that Gao Xiancheng's expression was a little unnatural, but he was not as flustered as the county order on the side, Gao Panlong nodded and asked: "Gao Xiancheng, you asked the official two sentences, one is to ask why the imperial court uses age to limit the official rank, and the other is to ask why the imperial court has a profit cap of 20%, if it remains unchanged, we will talk around these two issues, do you have any other questions?" ”

Gao Xiancheng thought about it and gritted his teeth and said, "The humble position is gone." ”

Gao Panlong nodded and said: "Then the official will answer the two questions you asked at the beginning, although you asked the two questions of the restriction of the rank of officials and the restriction of the profit of businessmen, but in the opinion of the official, the two questions are actually one question, that is to say, these two restrictions are based on one purpose, in order to limit people's ambitions. ”

Gao Xiancheng thought for a while and said: "I remember that the book said that Jiang Ziya could still make meritorious deeds at the age of eighty, and Gan Luo became an envoy of the Qin State at the age of twelve to envoy Zhao State, which shows that age has little to do with the official rank. The imperial court uses age to limit grades, which will make many capable people unable to display their talents, which is a loss for the Ming Dynasty. ”

Gao Panlong said: "The two people you cited are only special examples, and do not mean that they are universal, and the system of appointing officials in the imperial court must take into account the majority of people and not target a small number of people, otherwise it will be unfair to the majority." Gao Xiancheng will not forget what is the main cause of this incident, right? According to what you said and the investigation of the official, this incident is because many people feel that it is unfair, whether it is a teacher who does not forget the past and the future, or do not do to others what you do not want, how to make most people feel fair is what the imperial court should focus on. ”

Gao Xiancheng said: "The problem is that this system of using age to limit grades is only now, and the reason why a system exists must have its reason for existence, will it be too rash for the imperial court to make such a major change in a hurry?" I think that Zhang Juzheng implemented a whip law back then, changing the payment of taxes in kind to paying taxes with silver money, which seemed to be convenient for the people not to suffer from the pain of transporting food, but in fact, it planted a bane for the Ming Dynasty. As soon as a whip law was implemented, everyone immediately flocked to the silver, destroying seedlings, planting mulberry, planting tea, burning porcelain, etc., all of which went to the silver, which was the fundamental reason for the shortage of grain in the Ming Dynasty in recent years. ”

Gao Xiancheng's words made sense, and even Gao Panlong had to admire them, but it was because it was so reasonable, which aroused Gao Panlong's vigilance ♀, and his words were not something that a Bapin County Cheng should say, there must be someone behind Gao Xiancheng, that is to say, he is not fighting alone!

Gao Panlong coughed lightly and said: "It is true that the use of age to limit grades is only now, but it has been implemented for so long and has been approved by many officials, and this can indeed reduce strife and increase the spirit of unity and cooperation." Don't talk about it, let's just say that during the Sejong Dynasty, Zhang Xuan, Xia Yan, Yan Song, Xu Jie, and others all fought against their predecessors themselves, and this kind of infighting consumed a lot of my Daming's energy, and I can't let the tragedy of history continue anyway. Now that the Ming Dynasty uses age to limit grades, young officials can do things in a down-to-earth manner, and seventy-year-old ministers also go to the Holy Academy to exert their spare energy, and they will not always occupy their seats, and there will be no more such fights. ”

Gao Xiancheng said: "This only prompts the officials to move, and the ability of the officials is weakened to a great extent. Who can guarantee that this system will not be as short-lived as a whip law? ”

Gao Panlong said: "Gao Xiancheng repeatedly mentioned Zhang Juzheng's whip law, thinking that his reform was denied after his death because he made a mistake in the direction, but this official felt that this was not the case, first of all, he set a whip law that was still in use for so many years after his death, and the reason why there was a shortage of food was not the wrong direction but a structural error. If he had done so, there would have been no food crisis. ”

Seeing that Gao Xiancheng and the others all lowered their heads and did not make a sound, Gao Panlong said: "As for the ability to judge, this is indeed a difficult question to judge, what kind of person is a capable person?" Do you have to be able to pass the Jinshi and Hanlin to be considered capable? At that time, Hai Rui was a person who made the imperial history of Nanjing's right capital, and was widely praised for being an official and honest government, can you say that he is incapable? As far as I know, Gao Xiancheng is also a lifter, if someone says that he is not capable, I think Gao Xiancheng will be the first to jump out and oppose it, right? Therefore, it can be said that there is a certain amount of truth, but it does not mean that there is no need to change, as long as the change is effective, and the few people who oppose it means that the change is successful. ”