"Aiqing, but it doesn't hurt to say it."

Yan Qiheng plucked up the courage and said: "Now that the economy is collapsing, Tian Zheng is in the beginning of consolidation, and the military expenditure is urgent, the minister feels that he might as well donate it for national use." ”

"The court openly sells officials, which is tantamount to drinking water to quench thirst, this discussion does not work!" Zhu Youlang scolded.

Scarcity is precious, the emperor is relying on money and celebrities to control the courtiers, once the celebrities are overflowing, they will inevitably depreciate, and even impact the system, further undermining the Ming Dynasty.

In Fujian and Zhejiang, the areas ruled by the kings of Longwu and Lu, the famous lords were flooded, because the official position was too cheap, three hundred taels of silver could buy a ministry, and later it was even reduced to one hundred taels, let alone below the ministry. Although they are all empty titles, and there is neither a fortune nor a yamen, almost all people who have a little extra money pay to get an official rank like buying fashionable objects, so that when the yamen tries the case, the soap subordinates standing on both sides are competent officials, which is really a big joke in the world.

This phenomenon reached Zhu Youlang's ears, making him extremely angry, it would really hell if such a regime could prosper the Ming Dynasty!

Therefore, all civil and military officials from the south of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, who are not specially appointed, must all be examined and screened by the second military department, and those who have not gone through the formal imperial examination route and have not gone through the imperial court selection procedure will not be recognized by the Yongli court, and will be regarded as invalid!

The rest of the officials who have gone through the regular imperial examination and have the status of a person or a jinshi will be demoted to three to five levels of alternates depending on the specific situation.

Fortunately, the Ming officials have always been pitifully low, after all of them have been downgraded by a few levels, there are almost no more than three grades, and there are not many of them in hand, Zhu Youlang doesn't want to offend all those scholars and doctors to death, let's spend some money to raise it first, and it won't cost tens of thousands of taels of silver.

There is no way to do this, in order to compete with the Lu Wang regime for the support of the scholar group, Guanglongwu Dynasty, in less than two years, Emperor Longwu has sealed dozens of cabinet scholars out, indiscriminately rewarded, if not demoted, now the cabinet is already fucking together, overcrowded!

Seeing that the emperor was a little angry, Yan Qiheng still mustered up the courage and said: "Minister, what the minister said is not selling officials, but 'donating merit and fame'"

"Donate fame? How so? Zhu Youlang said in some surprise.

"Liangguang, Yunnan, Guizhou and Huguang have many uncivilized lands, although the cultural and educational, financial resources are far weaker than those in the south of the Yangtze River, the merchants and squires of various prefectures and counties are still keen on taking the imperial examination, and they are proud of winning fame.

During the difficult years of Wanli, the imperial court organized donations, and the merchants and squires of various provinces donated generously, showing off the township in the name of hanging prisoners or tributes, and the imperial court set up millions of taels of gold and silver money.

Now on the Huguang and Jiangxi fronts, 200,000 troops are fighting on the battlefield, fighting with the Tartars, military expenditures are huge, the great cause of Zhongxing is in danger, and the imperial court is in need, which is the most difficult time for the dynasty.

The ministers thought that there were ancestral precedents to follow, and the imperial court could send commissioners to the state capitals to organize donations, and those who passed the payment of money and grain could be named as supervisors or tribute students (the quota and qualifications for entering the Guozi Supervisor without passing the examination, similar to the self-financed students recruited by universities today), and were classified as officials. During the imperial examination, you can sit in the same scientific examination with the talented students, so as to win the name of the lifter and the jinshi.

Although it is helpless to donate, it is stronger than collecting the people, please Your Majesty Mingjian! ”

"Rong Zhen thinks about it." Zhu Youlang quickly weighed the pros and cons in his heart.

Guangdong is close to the sea, commerce and trade are developed, the salt industry is prosperous, and the number of maritime merchants and salt merchants with financial resources is certainly quite a lot, although Guangxi and Huguang are much poorer than them, after nearly 300 years of peace, there will certainly be no shortage of local tyrants and squires.

Prisoners or tributes are equivalent to the fame of Xiucai, not only do they have many privileges such as not having to serve, not kneeling when they see officials, but also entering the Guozijian for further study, and they can also participate in scientific examinations with other official talents, directly saving the county examination, the government examination, and the hospital examination!

The Lingnan literary style lags behind, but there are many squires and businessmen who want to test their fame. There are many people who have not been admitted to Xiucai after taking the exam all their lives.

If the imperial court organization donates fame, they will definitely rush to it, after all, what is sold at a clear price to the outside is only the fame of the equivalent of the first level of talent, and those who may really affect the foundation of the empire The names of the people and jinshi still have to be tested in the end.

This is really good, but it can solve the urgent needs of the imperial court, although it is much worse than the effect of directly selling officials like Longwu and King Lu's regime, and he can collect a lot of silver, the most important thing is that Zhu Youlang faintly saw another mystery from it.

Donating fame can greatly win the hearts of the local people, as long as they buy the fame of the imperial court, it is equivalent to tying to the chariot of the Ming Dynasty.

If the Ming Dynasty dies, their interests will also be seriously damaged, and from then on, they will have the same interests, which is conducive to the people's attachment and stability of the regime.

After figuring out this truth, Zhu Youlang couldn't help but admire Yan Qiheng a little, and sighed at his flexibility in the application of political strategies and ingenuity in handling things.

After a while, Zhu Youlang nodded silently: "This year, Liangguang, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Huguang provinces donated the qualifications of prisoners and tribute students, and I declare that it is only for this year, what other strategies are there to make money?" Let's talk about it. ”

The reason why Zhu Youlang limited the donation to one year was not because he cherished the names of prisoners and tribute students, but mainly because of the economic principle that scarcity is expensive.

"There are other ways to make money." After the suggestion was adopted by the emperor, Yan Qiheng was a little excited, and his courage unconsciously strengthened by three points, and he hurriedly made persistent efforts to say: "The first emperors of the previous dynasties indiscriminately rewarded the clan, often hundreds of thousands of taels or thousands of acres of land. ”

There was a reason why he dared to make this suggestion at the risk of offending the world's clans.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the clan vassal kings had great power, not only holding heavy troops, but also having the power of the people in the fiefdom, and could control the civil and military officials in the local area. However, since Yongle, the political and military power of the clan vassal kings has been gradually slashed, and the clan has gradually become a parasitic group that does nothing, holds a vacant position, and looks up to the county officials for the sake of high lords.

Ming Chengzu was born from the vassal king, and after he ascended the throne as emperor, he was most worried that other vassal kings would follow in his footsteps, and on the surface he changed a series of policies of Emperor Jianwen, but in fact, the policy of cutting the feudal domain did not change.