Zhu Houzhao's restructuring naturally did not mean that just talking about it could immediately turn the administration of the Ming Dynasty in Nanzhili and Zhejiang into an efficient and reasonable administrative system.

This is just the beginning, and it will take a lot of work.

However, Wang Shouren is responsible for these tasks.

Wang Shouren was actually quite depressed in his heart, because he actually wanted to be a saint who understood the truth of life, and wanted to continue to carry forward the mental knowledge he had summarized, but the imperial court used him to deal with the affairs of military and political affairs reform.

However, he didn't want to resign, because he couldn't let go of the country.

The emperor said a word, and the old man was tired and broke his waist.

This is a common phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty today.

There is no way, Emperor Zhu Houzhao loves tossing and reform.

You must not talk to the emperor about following the ancestral system, and if you talk about following the ancestral system, you will definitely be sent to the new territory of the Ming Dynasty to be an official, and you can't even resign and return to your hometown.

This also led to many enterprising officials at the middle and lower levels also embracing the holy will, and at every turn cited various malpractices and suggested court reforms.

Reform and reform became the mainstream ideology in the Zhengde Dynasty.

At least on the surface, it can't be said that it is good to follow the precedent.

The same is true of today's Nanzhili and Zhejiang's pilot reforms of the political system.

The officials are more and more aware of the temperament of the current emperor Zhu Houzhao, know that His Majesty the emperor is a restless lord, and know that the emperor must change something when he comes to Jiangnan, and the emperor will not be happy if he does not change.

Although the Nanjing officials who have not yet been exterminated are still loyal to the emperor Zhu Houzhao, they also have some complaints in their hearts, thinking that the emperor can not have nothing to do, the world has not been in chaos, there are no thieves rebelling, and there is no vassal king plotting rebellion.

"Your Majesty, the officials below have a lot of complaints about the reform proposed by Your Majesty this time, not that the reform is wrong, but they feel that now the Ming Dynasty is peaceful and peaceful, and the wind and rain are smooth, so there is no need to bother!"

Xichang Fojun reported the reaction of the hundred officials to Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but laugh dumbly after hearing it, and hurriedly met with Wang Shouren and asked Wang Shouren: "Do you ministers think I'm too noisy, tell me the truth!" ”

"The minister does not dare to deceive His Majesty, but there is this discussion, since the implementation of the law, the Ming officials are much more tired than before, and now His Majesty wants to reform in the south of the Yangtze River, increase the government office and officials, it can be regarded as a big move, it will make the officials more tired, so there is this discussion, but the minister believes that both the courtiers should have the heart of peace for the community, if you really ask for leisure, you can resign, do idle clouds and wild cranes, since you want to be in charge of the people, you have to work hard!"

Wang Shouren said.

"You're right! Do they really think I like to make a fuss? No, I'd rather be a monk for a day and spend a day beating the clock, but is it possible, I didn't ask about the government for a while some time ago, and I indulged in lust every day, and the result was not the same assassination! Being in his position and not seeking his own government is also a sin! ”

Zhu Houzhao patted Wang Shouren as he spoke: "I know that you, Wang Shouren, also want to be a saint who understands life, but now I have been arranged by me to do some military and political reforms, but since you still want to be a cabinet minister and the center of the world, you must have the consciousness of doing your best." ”

"The minister understands", Wang Shouren replied, and said: "The minister also said this to the officials below, but it is inevitable that there will be people who neglect the government." ”

"They can resign, the Ming court does not raise idlers", Zhu Houzhao said this, Wang Shouren couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking that His Majesty is direct, but who is willing to resign, resignation is equivalent to no privileged treatment, no way to make money, however, Wang Shouren believes that although officials are unwilling to resign, their complaints will definitely get bigger and bigger, because everyone wants to be treated well, with high income and little workload.

Yu Gui was very depressed at this time, over the years, as one of the Nanjing Wenxuan Shilang, he was originally an official who was also idle and very happy, but now the imperial court wants to add all kinds of officials in Nanzhili and Zhejiang Province to Fu County, and the statistics and assessment and appointment of officials need to be completed in this official department, which naturally makes him very depressed.

So, Yu Gui couldn't help but say to his colleagues in the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, and other yamen in Nanjing: "Everyone, today's imperial court can be said to have no law change for a day, and everyone thinks of changing the law, but you and I both understand that these are all actions to welcome the saints, with heavy official duties and a strict assessment system, so it is better to resign." ”

"What Yu Lang said is very true, it is better to resign!" Chen Xun also said it in the matter.

As a result, other officials also responded and said that they wanted to resign.

But the next day, Zhu Houzhao received a note from Chen Xun in the matter, the content of which was to impeach Yu Gui and other officials for neglecting their administration, and because they were dissatisfied with the frequent restructuring and increasing the burden of the imperial court, they intended to unite the ministers to resign from the government, so as to prevent the imperial court from reforming and eliminating evils.

Wang Shouren, who was sitting in Jiangnan to handle Zhu Houzhao's daily affairs, was very busy, and he didn't have time to study these trivial matters in detail, so he only planned to order Yu Gui and others to promote Chen Wei to Wenxuan Shilangzhong and continue to participate in the restructuring.

Yu Gui saw that Chen Xun was promoted to the Ministry of Officials, and he was ordered to be a scholar, and he was also furious for a while: "Chen Xun, you villain, you promised to resign together!" ”

"Brother Ke and brother forgive me, Chen's family is poor, if he resigns, he will not be able to make a living, the court is now very rich, and he does not dare to resign lightly, as for the impeachment of Brother Ke and others, it is just to fulfill the duty of a foolish brother!"

After Chen Wei said this, Yu Gui was so angry that he vomited blood, and he couldn't bear to leave the officialdom so stupidly, and hurriedly asked to see Wang Shouren and ask for reinstatement.

……

Zhu Houzhao was not surprised by the phenomenon of Yu Gui and Chen Wei, he could also guess that as long as the Ming court continued to reform, it would increase the workload of officials, and there would be officials who were self-contained and adhered to tradition or were content with pleasure to resign.

In Zhu Houzhao's view, since you can resign if you are tired of being an official, there are scholars in universities and colleges who are willing to get tired and get a good income and social status.

Of course, the vast majority of officials are still reluctant to resign, and at most they complain.

Zhu Houzhao is not afraid of these officials' complaints, he believes that these officials' complaints will not be able to make big waves, and he has also expanded the number of officials, many low-level officials and students of new-style schools have been added to the official system, which has caused a surge in the number of officials in the entire Nanzhili and Zhejiang, these new officials are very active, and they are also grateful to Zhu Houzhao for giving them the opportunity to be officials.

In addition, Zhu Houzhao also revised the examination law and added promotion rules, saying that from now on, officials in the Ming Dynasty will have the opportunity to become ranked in the court, become ministers, and even split the soil to seal the marquis, and require that the ministers must have political experience at the bottom, especially in states and counties, so that the new officials are also very energetic, and they all hope that they can be ranked as ministers in the future.

Of course, what these new officials don't know is that there are tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people who have entered the Ming bureaucracy with him, and basically not many people can do it if they want to be promoted from a nine-rank official to a first-class official.

In any case, it is of positive significance for Zhu Houzhao to let Wang Shouren and other officials do so.

At this time, Nanzhili had the Department of Commerce, which was responsible for managing the commerce and trade of Nanzhili, and the Department of Agriculture, which was responsible for managing the agriculture of Nanzhili, and the depth and breadth of administrative management were significantly greater than before.

In the past, the role that the Ming government could play was relatively small, and the number of officials was small, which led to the local forces and clan forces having an environment to resist the imperial court, and now even the health of the people will have a special official to take care of it.

Some of the new towns were also set up as new counties and government offices, so that these towns were no longer under the administration of the government.

Zhu Houzhao is not worried, the increase in the number of officials and the resulting increase in the expenditure of public officials are also the result of increasing investment in public utilities.

In order to make Jiangnan's public management better and more comprehensive, it is inevitable to increase investment in public utilities.

As for the future, in order to protect their own income and treatment, it is self-evident whether these officials will take the initiative to demand an increase in the collection of commercial taxes.

Of course, the number of officials has increased substantially, and in consideration of the problem of administrative efficiency, there has also been a change in the distribution of power, and the officials of the four grades and below in the two provinces of Nanzhili and Zhejiang are elected by the provincial capitals, and the election method is to set up the provincial party committee and the provincial standing committee, and the provincial prefects and provincial organs are composed of the provincial governors and governors, and the envoys according to the procurators, and the officials of the four grades and above are elected by the council, and then appointed by the organization department.

This kind of power to appoint middle- and lower-level officials was originally in the hands of the ministry, which directly appointed middle- and lower-level officials.

The middle- and lower-level officials in Nanzhili and Zhejiang were directly responsible for the Nanjing Bureau.

And now, Zhu Houzhao and Wang Shouren are doing this, which is tantamount to depriving the Nanjing officials of this power, to be precise, depriving the Nanjing Wenxuan Shilang of this right.

This is not surprising, many times the political operation of the Ming Dynasty is in the hands of these petty officials below the fourth grade.

Officials such as the Ministry of Affairs, the Imperial History, the Ministry of Officials, and the Military Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs are all petty officials who hold great power, and of course they are easy to become hugely greedy.

Now, Zhu Houzhao and Wang Shouren have given this right directly to the localities, naturally trying to avoid the appearance of huge corruption among these petty officials in the system, and at the same time, they are also preventing these petty officials in Beijing from arbitrarily appointing them without knowing the actual situation in the localities.

Let the main local officials be elected within the officials, the same as the imperial court promotion model, so that the officials can be selected as reasonably and balanced as possible, and it is also avoided that one Wenxuan Shilang can manipulate the whole world by controlling the appointment of officials in the world, and even lead the entire civil official group to confront the emperor.

In the current situation, even if there are officials who control the appointment and dismissal of personnel, they can only manipulate the political situation in one province.

Of course, nominally all the officials in the world were appointed and dismissed by the emperor.

However, it is impossible in reality, geographical factors and factors of limited personal energy, Zhu Houzhao must decentralize power, and how to decentralize is to be considered, and now this kind of power is naturally more scientific in the hands of a person who does not delegate power.

But in doing so, it also increases local autonomy in disguise.

However, Zhu Hou took care of Qian Mu's "Political Gains and Losses in Ancient China", and he remembered that according to Qian Mu's view, the increase of local autonomy to a certain extent is conducive to the people's livelihood, and ancient China was a process of continuous centralization and shrinking of local autonomy, causing ancient China to become more and more introverted and conservative and disregard for local people's livelihood.

For example, the power of the Han and Tang dynasties was very large, even almost the same as the princes, the Song Dynasty was the central commissioner in charge of local affairs, and now the Ming Dynasty is the governor of the city and other Beijing officials to manage the place, and gradually from the temporary dispatch to the long-term station, not to mention the Qing Dynasty, there is a governor above the governor.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know whether it was good or bad to increase local autonomy, but he could only try it first in the pilot projects in Nanzhili and Zhejiang.

After all, the political economy of Nanzhili and Zhejiang is relatively special, and the people have a high level of education, so they may really need to have a certain degree of autonomy in order to make them make some more reasonable and open and even advanced policies.

For example, Wu Wending began to implement the system of taxation and only silver dollars in Nanzhili, which is very in line with the interests of the people in Nanzhili, after all, the people of Nanzhili do not farm much, mainly to work and do business, and it is also convenient to exchange silver dollars, so it is naturally more suitable for paying silver dollars than paying grain.

At present, for the people of Jiangnan, life is really comfortable, doing business is no longer worried about tyrants, and the new officials are also burning their own three fires, and because of the influence of the imperial court assessment system, some local officials will also give special treatment to merchants and handicraftsmen in policy for the sake of political performance, so that the people's personal income is rising gradually.

The population of Nanjing, Suzhou, Songjiang, Ningbo, and Hangzhou has directly increased by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, villas, gardens and even high-end communities have begun to appear one after another, and the speed of urbanization is getting faster and faster, and the annual trade volume of a small town has exceeded one million silver dollars, and an ordinary person can earn thousands of silver dollars a day by selling goods in Songjiang.

However, the people have become rich, and the court has been in a state of loss.

The state revenues brought by the sea trade and colonial plunder were being invested in the maintenance of Jiangnan's municipal funds in an increasing proportion, which made the governors of other places and even the Beijing officials begin to have great opinions.

Even Nanzhili and local officials in Zhejiang can't stand it, and they have to squeeze out the money allocated by the central court to build a road, while the local chaebol can throw thousands of dollars overnight for a flower oiran.

The establishment of a new tax administration system in Jiangnan was the most important and final step in Zhu Houzhao's stay in Nanjing to reform the Jiangnan system, and it was also what many officials in the imperial court wanted to do.

There is no way, the officials of the imperial court cannot work for nothing without receiving wages, from a certain point of view, the imperial court is the bandit group that rules this place, and if you want the bandits to protect your safety and not take it directly from you, you have to pay protection money.

If the imperial court does not establish a tax system to collect legal protection fees, officials can only use unspoken rules to collect them, which breeds corruption, the most typical of which is power rent-seeking.

As a matter of fact, in the third year of Zhu Houzhao's stay in Nanjing, such signs had already begun to appear, and some officials who had just entered the officialdom saw that the businessmen and the common people had become rich one after another, and they began to have an imbalance in their hearts, and they began to reap benefits from the merchant groups, and they also began to use their power for their own personal gains, and even some directly took advantage of the wealth.

"Now Nanzhili and Zhejiang are mostly based on business and industry, but the tax is still based on the collection of land taxes, thirty taxes one, based on the price of grain, then the profit of thirty silver dollars is one of them, but now even the profits of ordinary people doing business are not less than thousands of silver dollars, this tax policy is extremely unreasonable!"

At this time, Wang Shouren proposed the phenomenon he had discovered in Nanzhili in the court.

But at this time, Wang Chengyu, the secretary of the household department in Nanjing, stood up: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Wang Ge Lao's words are wrong, Nanzhili and Zhejiang have always been the heaviest, and other provinces are less than half of Nanzhili and Zhejiang's year, and the imperial court should exempt the party from the people's strength, how can it still be leved, and it is absolutely impossible to levy it!" ”

"How many acres of land are in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, how many acres of fields are in other provinces, how many households are in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, how many households are in other provinces, isn't it clear that Wang Butang is not clear, it is normal for Nanzhili and Zhejiang to be heavier than other provinces, and it is not normal to be lighter than other provinces!"

Wang Shouren couldn't help but reply, he himself is also from Zhejiang, but he is also a shareholder of the imperial court bank, so he naturally knows that today's policy is to benefit the imperial court or the local gentry in Zhejiang, but because of this, he also has to increase the burden of some Jiangsu and Zhejiang scholars for the sake of national interests, so that the imperial court can have more financial resources to build barren areas in the northwest and southwest.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that it is the benevolent government of the court to give light to the thin endowment, and the wealth of the people is also the blessing of the court, and the court should govern the country with frugality, so why take the benefits of the people!"

Zhang Jin, the left waiter of Nanjing's household department, also did not propose to increase the endowment, but it seems to be very reasonable, tax reduction and exemption are originally good governance, and the prosperous dynasty has never said that the endowment will be increased.

"But this year's audit and accounting found that the annual income and expenditure of the provinces in the world do not offset each other, and there are six provinces that eat grain, Yunnan, Guizhou, Gansu, Nanzhili, and Zhejiang;

Yungui has always been barren, and it is normal to make ends meet, originally Yungui relied on the supply of Sichuan's endowment, and Gansu also relied on the imperial court's appropriation;

But Nanzhili and Zhejiang have also begun to make ends meet in the past two years, and even have a huge deficit of tens of millions of silver dollars! And Nanzhili and Zhejiang are now no less than one billion silver dollars in sea trade, dare to ask why Nanzhili and Zhejiang will still lose! It needs to be helped by the imperial court Huguang, Liangguang, Shandong and other places! ”

Cong Lan, the first head of the Household Department of the Ming Dynasty, led the audit work of the Ming Dynasty and began to be fully responsible for the control of the state-owned assets of the Ming Dynasty, but it was precisely because of this that he discovered the financial burden brought about by the reform of the Jiangnan system, so that he had to rush to Nanjing to help Wang Shouren urge Emperor Zhu Houzhao to reform the Jiangnan tax administration.

As a native of Shandong, he didn't want the people of Shandong to use the money to buy sweet potatoes to pay the Jiangnan officials to enter the Qinglou.

"Your Majesty, the imperial court has the income of the northern mining tax and the southern sea trade, and the income of the new overseas territories of the sea trade, Mo said that the southern Zhili and Zhejiang are not able to make ends meet, all of which are regarded as the provinces in the Guannai can not make ends meet, and it does not hurt the operation of the imperial court, when the two Song Dynasty rewarded the benefits of the sea trade and can support the officials of the Ming Dynasty most times today, and now the benefits of the Ming sea trade are even more than the two Song Dynasty, and the wealth of the country has been several times that of the two Song Dynasty, so why bother with the fact that the south Zhili and Zhejiang cannot make ends meet, and the people of other provinces do not have to envy the wealth of the people of Nan Zhili and Zhejiang, and the court has banned the road introduction system, If they want to seek wealth, they will come to Nanzhili and Zhejiang! ”

At this time, Nanjing Huke also talked about the solution in the matter.

But Zhu Houzhao just wanted to laugh when he heard this Xie Yi's words, and he had to admit that what Xie Yi said was either stupid or bad.

It is true that the imperial court is now plundering a lot of wealth from the outside world, but it can't just fatten you Nanzhili and Zhejiang, wouldn't that exacerbate the income gap between the north and the south, and increase the gap between the rich and the poor, "The people of other provinces don't have to be envious, if you want to get rich, you can come to Nanzhili and Zhejiang" This is also ridiculous, can outsiders and locals be the same.

Cong Lan was obviously so angry at this time that her face turned red: "The surname is Jie, you are simply selfish, in vain to take the overall situation, there are only Nanzhili and Zhejiang in the world, the money of the imperial court needs to be used to raise the army and relieve disasters, how can it benefit you Nanzhili alone!" The people of Zhejiang in the south have been rich enough to eat the meat of six animals, live in a two-story building every day, but the people of the northwest still live in the cave of the earthen kiln, and the people of the southwest still live in the cave! Feed on coarse grain sweet potatoes! The people of the southeast are already so rich, but the people of the southwest and northwest are still short of food and clothing, how can they still be thick in the southeast and thin in the northwest and southwest! ”

"Your Majesty, Cong Shilang's words are also reasonable, since he refuses to let the court benefit the people of Jiangnan, it is better for the court to stop supplying Nanzhili and Zhejiang! Why bother to give it to the people and compete for profits with the people, most of the officials in Jiangnan are promoted by the imperial court and elected by the local government, all of them are selfless officials who seek the well-being of the people, and they are all as clean as water, and they don't care about money! ”

Yu Cai, the left attendant of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials, also said a word at this time.

"The minister thinks that what Yu Shilang said is very true, Nanzhili and Zhejiang can no longer accept the imperial court's relief!" Wan Chao, the head of the household department, also said.

"What do you think of Wu Wending, the governor of Nanzhili, and Huang Zhen, the governor of Zhejiang, you are in charge of these two provinces, so you should know best," Zhu Houzhao asked.

Huang Zhen glanced at Wang Chengyu, the head of the household department in Nanjing, he knew that he had nothing to do with Wang Butang sitting in this position, and the opinions of the Jiangnan chaebols behind Wang Butang must be the same as Wang Butang, but as the governor of Zhejiang, he can't show his political purpose too obviously, after all, Wang Shouren, the cabinet elder, and Cong Butang, who is in charge of the state-owned assets audit of the imperial court, can't offend too much.

Therefore, Huang Zhen said: "You can try!" ”

All of a sudden, the entire court fell silent!

Wang Shouren and Cong Lan angrily wanted to tear Huang Zhen apart!

And Wang Chengyu and the others twitched the corners of their mouths, revealing some smugness.

"Since this is the case, then let Nanzhili and Zhejiang be responsible for their own profits and losses", Zhu Houzhao asked tentatively, but at this time, Wu Wending stood up: "No!" Your Majesty, the minister believes that those who advise Nanzhili and Zhejiang not to change the tax policy and are not relieved by the imperial court should be beheaded!! Prevent the imperial court from changing the tax policy or seeking for the people of the township, but those who advise this policy are evil officials who do not seek the welfare of the people of the two provinces! There is no country and no people in his heart! ”

Yu Cai, Wan Chao, and Huang Zhen were all a little frightened when they heard Wu Wending say this, and they hurriedly crawled on the ground: "Your Majesty, the ministers are definitely not the evil officials that Wu Futai said!" ”

Zhu Houzhao just smiled faintly and asked Wu Wending: "Then according to you, should this tax policy be changed?" ”

"Change! If you don't change, you will only force officials to be bandits, and your colleagues in the court may not be afraid of the harm of officials and gentry, but once the court governs Jiangnan with morality, it will only make the laws of Jiangnan useless, and the court's actions to eliminate evil and punish wrongdoing will only be wasted! ”

When Wu Wending said this, Wang Chengyu, Zhang Jin and others were very annoyed, thinking that this Wu Wending, a Huguang person, really didn't have a backache when he stood and talked.