On the twentieth day of the first month of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, Zhu Cihong said goodbye to the emperor and led his guards to Huaiqing Mansion. After the merger with Weihui Mansion, Huaiqing Mansion has 12 counties under its jurisdiction, and the administrative area is still not large. However, the Ming Dynasty divided the prefectures and counties based on the number of Dingkou, so the population of Huaiqing Mansion was much higher than that of the same size in North China and Shandong.

This depends on the level of governance of local officials, but fortunately, although Wu Weiye lacks experience and does not have the talent that a herdsman official should have, Shen Jiaxian and Zhang San have shown their ability as two jinshi.

"The best thing in the world to do is to be an official. The most difficult thing in the world to do is also to be an official. If you want to do practical things for the people, you are not afraid of offending people, and you are an official with one board and one eye, then you are the best official. If you want to build relationships in an intricate way, and only think about one day being promoted to the top of the cabinet, then I am afraid it will be difficult for this official to do. Zhu Cihong stopped for a day in Huaiqing to inspect the people's livelihood in Hanoi County.

is different from Kaifeng Mansion, which was washed by Liao Xing's blood, and there is blood everywhere that has not yet dispersed. Huaiqing Mansion still retains the original taste of Daming, but the newly established police stations at the prefectural and county levels, the Inspection Division, and the house number and address posted on the door of every house show a different atmosphere from the past.

"How's spring plowing going this year?" Zhu Cihong asked.

"Back to His Royal Highness, there is still a shortage of ploughing cattle in various places, but this time the government has purchased 300 'substitute cultivators' from the Technical College, which can somewhat alleviate the needs of spring ploughing." Shen Jiaxian is now in charge of the spring ploughing of Huaiqing Mansion and is on patrol with him.

Zhu Cihong looked into the distance, but all he saw in front of him was cattle ploughing. This is also understandable, and the following prefectures and counties all want to show the most haode side to their bosses. If Shen Jiaxian can answer honestly like this, he is already considered passing.

"Go see the substitute cultivators." Zhu Cihong said.

Wu Weiye hurriedly ordered to go down and let people open the way in front. Zhu Cihong didn't have that patience, and the fast horse had already moved forward.

The group went straight north, and sure enough, they saw the "substitution farming" invented by Wang Zheng.

This kind of cultivation equipment was used in the original historical script until the late Qing Dynasty. It is the most haode supplement in the case of insufficient animal power. The original design was a group of three people with two turntables installed at either end of the field, with ropes in between. Each turntable is equipped with a strong laborer, and one person in the middle supports the plow. After the turntable turns, the rope pulls the ploughshare, which creates a straight ridge.

Huaiqing Province has a lot of water. Therefore, Shen Jiaxian uses more substitution farming in the land near the river, which can reduce manpower by using water power. Moreover, generally this kind of high-grade fertile land has a large area and is connected into patches, which is also convenient for "substitution farming" to advance. Oxen are used to plough the fields where there is a lack of water power, and only the inferior mountains are used by manpower.

"The fields that originally relied on water belonged to the rich peasant families, and they must have had cattle, so they didn't have to worry about spring ploughing labor. The poorer the field, the poorer the family, often several families raise a cow, but it is better than nothing. Now the government has stepped in to deploy it. The spring ploughing area of the whole county has gone up, and no one has suffered any losses. Shen Jia said.

"The rich men are willing to lend their cattle?" Zhu Cihong asked.

Shen Jiaxian was slightly stunned and said, "Since it is not harmed by itself, and everyone is happy, the squires are still happy to do it." ”

Zhu Cihong also smiled, and secretly said that he thought of those squires too badly.

In fact, there were not many local tyrants and inferior gentry in the Ming Dynasty, at most they were just a little selfish. In the case of the government's inaction, local ditches were opened and disaster relief was allocated. Basically, these squires did it spontaneously. As for building bridges and paving roads, and starting a school of righteousness. It was also a common thing for wealthy squires.

In a patriarchal society, the big clan has obligations to the small clan, and the big family also has obligations to the small family, and the teaching of kinship is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so if you don't do this, you will be poked in the back. If you dare to bully people in the fish and meat township, you will not only be nailed to the pillar of shame by the Zong family. It will be thrown to the ground by the angry villagers and stepped on it again.

Xu Jie, the elder of the Shoufu Pavilion, and Dong Qichang as the Shangshu of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, were all humiliated by the township, which is a lesson from the past.

On the flip side, however, the patriarchal society was also the biggest obstacle to the New Deal.

The power of the patriarch is greater than that of the government. The clansmen are not afraid of the government but of the clan. In Shandong, because of the division of land and the ownership of rivers and canals, there have been frictions and collisions between political power and clan rights in various counties. Zuihou, of course, was the victory of the regime, and forcibly broke the patriarchal society by merging the villages and dividing the families and property.

This kind of violent practice is still enshrined in Kaifeng Mansion, but Huaiqing Mansion is obviously warm and cannot be recognized.

"It doesn't matter if it's a white cat or a black cat, a good cat is one that can catch mice." Zhu Cihong said to Wu Weiye and Shen Jiaxian: "I don't care what your governance methods are, the key is whether the place is peaceful, whether the people live in peace, and whether your examination tasks can be completed. As long as these three points are achieved, adding officials to knighthood is just the meaning of the question. ”

Wu Weiye and Shen Jiaxian hurriedly thanked him.

Zhu Cihong could already see the rolling ridges and tunnels of Taihang Mountain in the north: "I won't go back." Min Ziruo, let's go north directly. After Umemura goes back, let Xingyuan catch up as soon as possible. ”

Wu Weiye obviously couldn't accept such a big adaptation, originally said that Haode was just going out of the city to inspect the spring ploughing, why did he just leave?

"Your Highness, a send-off banquet has also been arranged in the house, and there are local old people......"

"It's another day to walk two more times in these twenty or thirty miles, and the time is like an arrow and I can't afford to delay." Zhu Cihong raised his horsewhip and said, "Go back." ”

In the stunned eyes of Wu Weiye and Shen Jiaxian, Zhu Cihong had already whipped away. Min Ziruo and other guards naturally followed, and gradually there were people parallel to Zhu Cihong, and then there were two horsemen in front of them to open the way and surround Zhu Cihong in the middle. Zhu Cihong waited for more than ten miles before he remembered another important reason for Shandong's destruction of the patriarchal system: bandits and bandits.

It is impossible for bandits and bandits to live in the mountains without support, and even if they have a village, they have to trade with various villages on a regular basis. And because of the relationship between clansmen, in-laws, etc., the villagers are bound to help them conceal, hide, and ventilate. It was precisely because of this that the local officials intensified their crackdown on the patriarchal society, cut off the communication between the common people and the bandits, and finally brought about the rectification of law and order in Shandong.

There are more bandits in Henan, but they are more mobile, so maybe this will not happen.

Even if it happens, it's a lesson.

Zhu Cihong quickly dissipated this thought and concentrated on riding a horse. The ground on the road is getting harder and harder, there are more and more stones, and there is Taihang Mountain in front of you.

Wu Weiye, Shen Jiaxian, and the entourage officials watched the crown prince disappear on the horizon before going back for a long time. Shen Jiaxian and Wu Weiye walked side by side, and couldn't help but sigh: "Your Highness is resolute, it's really ...... It's ...... that he is a jinshi, and he didn't find a suitable word for a long time, so he simply vaguely passed.

"Shen Tongzhi, next month we will apply for the task by ourselves." Wu Weiye didn't have so much emotion: "There is a lot of attention to this, if you report high, you can't complete it in the future, you will be fined at the lightest, lose your official position at the worst, and you may be convicted of dereliction of duty if you are more serious." ”

"What's lower?" Shen Jiaxian said tentatively.

"The report is too low, in case it is found out by the imperial history, or seen by the inspection team sent above, it is opportunistic and disloyal, and it will be directly assigned to the village school to teach." Wu Weiye said lightly.

"What does the Mansion think it should be?" Shen Jiaxian was also frightened.

"I still have to let Brother Zhang come back and discuss it well." Wu Weiye said.

Shen Jiaxian finally tasted the power of the legendary test method. Moreover, as a fellow of Huaiqing Mansion, Shen Jiaxian has to take responsibility for participating in the implementation of the goals of the whole government, and at the same time, he also has the task of taking the test of his own department, so it can be said that the whole body is firmly tied to this test method.

The evaluation of officials was something that appeared as early as the pre-Qin era, and Zhang Juzheng borrowed the banner of the old system of his ancestors to improve the implementation rules of the examination law, making the early years of Wanli the most efficient period of administrative efficiency in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Cihong not only followed Zhang Juzheng's detailed rules for the examination method, but also clearly determined the authority of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to supervise the imperial history, forcing them to focus on the task of taking the examination. As a result, the implementation of the examination law itself has been strengthened, so that officials can not help but pay special attention to the task of examination while relaxing.

Under the spur of this system, the work efficiency and attitude of the officials of the East Palace are naturally not comparable to the old-fashioned bureaucrats. (To be continued......)

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