China's feudal bureaucracy is more hypocritical, although everyone loves money, but they are ashamed of profit. is obviously a thousand-mile official just for money, but he likes to pretend to be a Qing official with two sleeves and a clean breeze. Over time, pretending to be B has become a habit, and all the officials do not think that the development of a local economy has anything to do with them.

Of course, this big bureaucrat who was born on the right path of the imperial examination had mixed qualifications in the Hanlin Academy, taught part-time in Beijing, ran a poetry club, and also served as an examiner in the local area, and also served as an imperial historian, an envoy to the inspector, a political envoy, a governor, a governor, and a minister of foreign affairs. However, his political achievements were all in the control of the river (the Yellow River continued to flood after he ruled it), agriculture, water affairs, water conservancy, disaster relief, government management, and the prohibition of smoking (prohibiting an opium war). I have never heard of Lin Daqingguan's contribution to the development of industry and commerce.

After hearing that Zhu Jishi linked the development of industry and commerce with the increase of taxes, Lin Zexu couldn't help but be a little disapproving. What does this business have to do with officials? That's a businessman's business, so you can't ask officials to help businessmen do business, right?

"Oh? Developing business and commerce? The emperor must be confident, right? Lin Zexu stroked his beard and asked lightly.

Zhu Jishi smiled slightly: "I am naturally confident, but how many of the 160,000 magistrates in the eight southeastern provinces will think of developing industry and commerce?" Muon, have you ever had such a thought? ”

Lin Zexu thought for a while and nodded: "When the old man was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he thought of some methods, but unfortunately he didn't wait for the effect, and it became someone else's wedding dress." ”

"Mu Weng is still knowledgeable about some business matters, but unfortunately most civil officials don't have such ideas." Zhu Jishi said eloquently. "If you become a civil official in the University Scholar Mansion and the Hongru Academy. Or do a local school politics. It is okay to manage the imperial examination and ignore the affairs of industry and commerce, but if you are an official of the parents of a place, if you do not care about the affairs of industry and commerce, you will not be qualified. ”

Such a statement should be put on hold in the previous dynasty, and Lin Zexu will definitely scoff after hearing it, but the Ming Dynasty was indeed restored because of industry and commerce. The status of merchants is much higher than that of the former Qing Dynasty, and most of the members of the Constituent Assembly are businessmen, and most of the local public bureaus are controlled by merchants.

"I thought. To develop industry and commerce, first of all, it is necessary to let the parents and officials in various localities have such ideas. Zhu Jishi said.

This is what later generations called the change of thinking, if there is no idea of developing industry and commerce, it will be even more difficult for the Ming Dynasty to embark on the broad road of capitalism. Although businessmen play a major role in industrial and commercial activities, it is also extremely necessary for the government to promote them, after all, there are many institutional and infrastructure constructions that cannot be achieved by businessmen alone.

In addition, at present, the gentry and officials in the eight southeastern provinces of the Ming Dynasty are actually one, and the fact that the officials do not have the idea of promoting industry and commerce means that the gentry do not have the idea of investing capital in industry and commerce. In areas where commerce was relatively developed, the gentry were mostly involved in industry and commerce. Huge profits are made from it, so at least the government there will not do anything to restrict the development of industry and commerce. And in the conservative and closed interior. The gentry only knew how to study and collect rent, and the officials regarded industry and commerce as an alternative, and not only did not want to promote it, but also came up with many ways to restrict the development of industry and commerce. Therefore, changing the way of thinking is the first step in the development of industry and commerce.

"I think that the reason why local officials in the past did not care about industry and commerce was for two reasons, one is that industrial and commercial affairs have nothing to do with promotion, and all dynasties have forbidden locals to be local officials, and they have only been officials for a few years.

The second is that the officials are too knowledgeable, they only know how to read the books of sages and sages, and they know nothing about industry and commerce, and even if they have the heart to develop the economy, they have no way to start. ”

Lin Zexu frowned slightly, although what Emperor Zhu said was the truth, it was too direct, right?

Zhu Jishi continued: "In this dynasty, locals are used as local officials, and promotions must be assessed on industrial and commercial taxes. If such an official can't even govern his hometown, what qualifications does he have to govern a government, a province, or even a cabinet? Is it because they have a breeze on their sleeves? What is the use of such a clean official who is not beneficial to the country? ”

Emperor Zhu paused for a moment, and then said, "What I am doing now is to reward capable people and punish mediocre officials. Therefore, not only should the promotion of officials be linked to the industrial and commercial taxes, but even the salary of officials should depend on the economy of a place. If the local area is rich, the officials will be rich, and if the local area is poor, the officials will be poor, and if the local area is poor, the officials will be vacant and dismissed! I don't need the kind of dumb official who is so poor that he is proud of being poor. The truth I believe in is that officials love money and take it in the right way! Therefore, I do not prohibit officials from doing business in their homes, as long as they report to the public bureau for the record and publish it in the main local newspapers. Moreover, the salaries of officials are not determined according to rank, but according to the amount of taxes in the places they govern, which are jointly determined by the local public bureau, the higher level of government, and the imperial court. I plan to give high salaries to the officials of the four counties of Nanhai, Panyu, Bao'an, and Shanghai, which have paid the most taxes, and the annual salary of the county officials in the four counties is set at 6,000 silver dollars! ”

"What? A county magistrate takes 6,000 silver dollars!! Rao is Lin Zexu's qi cultivation kung fu was so shocked that he screamed.

You must know that the official system of the current Ming Dynasty is different from that of the Qing Dynasty and the former Ming Dynasty. At present, there are many Ming officials, and most of the past seats have now become official officials, and special funds are also arranged for the expenses of the official office, office expenses, and the carriage and horse expenses of senior officials. Therefore, the official's salary refers to the silver that can be taken home to live, so this 6,000 silver dollars is actually more than the past 12,000 silver dollars, which is almost the income of the governor and governor during the Qing Dynasty!

"That's 6,000!" Zhu Jishi said seriously, "I also know that the rich income of these four counties has little to do with the four county officials, but I still have to pay them a high salary, which is a thousand dollars to buy horse bones." Not only can the county officials in these four counties get a high salary, but the other officials there can also get a lot higher salary than other places. In addition, there are more than a dozen counties where the county magistrate can get 4,800 yuan, and more than 50 county officials who get 3,600 yuan and 2,400 yuan, and more than 200 poor county officials who only give them 960 yuan. ”

Now the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty are one-size-fits-all, and the annual salary of the county order is 960 yuan. But Emperor Zhu is now planning to reform this "big pot of rice", and to make the salary of county officials widen the gap, and the highest is 5,000 yuan, which is as high as the governor! The lowest is 960 yuan, only 80 silver dollars per month, if you live on salary alone, at most you can let the family live the life of a middle-class family. Moreover, Emperor Zhu hired locals to be local officials here, and it was impossible for officials from poor counties to be transferred to rich counties! If the county's economy can't get up, you will be a poor official for the rest of your life!

"If the officials of a poor county want to be promoted and make a fortune, they have to find a way to develop the economy of a county, and if the place is rich, they can also get a high salary. Later, I will work out a method of raising the salaries of officials and increasing the number of officials, which will be fully linked to the local economy and taxes. ”

Zhu Jishi looked at Lin Zexu with a smile and said: "However, just having such a set of incentives may not allow officials to put their minds on developing the economy." Because many of our Ming officials have never seen the world and do not understand the economy, they need the guidance and help of the imperial court, which is the responsibility of the Chamber for the Promotion of Industry and Commerce. ”

Lin Zexu frowned and said: "Your Majesty, the old man's health is not good, and he has limited knowledge of industrial and commercial matters, so I am afraid it will be difficult to take this position." ”

Zhu Jishi waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's okay, Mu Weng only has to take on the name, and I personally take care of the affairs of the Association for the Promotion of Industry and Commerce." ”

Lin Zexu understood, it turned out that Emperor Zhu still took a fancy to himself, the gold-lettered signboard of the leader of Shilin! Promoting industry and commerce is a bad government in the eyes of many pretentious scholars, and if someone else comes to be the president and is drowned in saliva, probably only himself and Pan Shien are not afraid of their scolding. (To be continued......)