Chapter 627 is still a matter of system

Zhu Youzhen, an upstart + miser, is purely the kind of person whose eyes are red when he sees others making money. came to Chen Xie with great interest, hoping that he would give him a move, and we would also play the role of a tide maker in the railway tide. I never thought that Chen Xie's words would pour his enthusiasm on him. Yes, we are emperors, we can collect taxes on everything, right?

Seeing that Lao Zhu was fooled into the ditch, Chen Xie breathed a sigh of relief. Just look at how important railways are to this country. To be honest, this thing should still be in the hands of the state, but there is one thing that is very annoying, bureaucracy. In the final analysis, it is really a problem of the system, and it is normal for a system that lacks a supervisory mechanism to breed bureaucracy and corruption.

Another point is that as long as it is to make money, the emperor will reach out, which is a big blow to the enthusiasm of the people. The railway is very different from the sea transportation, the sea trade is to tie the head to the waistband to make money, these years there are no iron ships, no satellite positioning, no network communication, running the sea trade is very dangerous. Zhu Youzhen was poor and crazy, so he fooled Chen Xie in, and he hadn't invested much capital, otherwise he wouldn't have done it.

This time he made a lot of money, and his heart itched, thinking about making more money. Chen Xie told him very calmly, these things are not what you should do, what you should do is to guide the development direction of the country and formulate and improve the system.

"This, didn't you say, silver is called silver when it is circulated, and there is a pile of dead things in the warehouse. When I saw the gold that I had sent back this time, I wondered if I might as well do something. In the past, I was poor and afraid, and I always wanted to earn a little more silver in my hand, so that my heart was steady. "What Zhu Youzhen said is what he said in his heart, he was really poor before, and he had enough hard life.

Zhu Youzhen still wanted to do something. But he couldn't make up his mind, running a school or something, to be honest, he could go to the account of the household department, and his savings were called the inner treasury. Chen Xie really couldn't cry or laugh, the emperors of the Zhu family were more wonderful than the other, and they were more reluctant to give up money. It's really traditional.

"Your Majesty, who said that running a school will cost money? What school do you have to look at? This is not the government school below, and the talents cultivated are all officials. The status of merchants can be improved, but after all, they cannot replace officials, and they can only exist as a form of supervisory power. After all, being an official is the mainstream of scholars. Understand this truth, and things will be easy to do. Don't you have money? Don't you want to spend some? It's easy to do, run a school! There is a royal school of martial arts, with various disciplines under it, in order to distinguish it from the official schools in various places. You will be charged the tuition fee here. If you want to learn sailing, you can pay the fee, if you want to learn steelmaking, you can pay the fee. It's not good for you to come forward to charge for this matter, so you can leave it to the clan to do it. Find someone who is honest and acts like he is outside, and doesn't really care about anything. Just hang his name and run a school. If you really don't believe in the sect, find an outsider. It's just a name, who would dare to touch the crooked thoughts of His Majesty's silver? You can also set up a hospital, this minister is good at it, and he also has talents under him, and the imperial doctor can also come out to take charge. We don't charge any money for medical treatment. Let's change the trick, if you have money and status, you have to charge a little more expensive when you come to see a doctor, and you have no money for the poor. If you can avoid it, you will be exempted. Besides, you are Your Majesty, how can you focus on how to make money, there are so many important things in the Ming Dynasty. Chen Xie said something, and finally came back.

Zhu Youzhen laughed twice, embarrassed, but decided to ask for the matter of the Gewu Academy and the hospital, as for talents, regardless of Chen Xie's want, he was not afraid that he would not give it. "Okay, you're right, since that's the case, let's talk about it, what else does Daming have to do? Do you want me to worry about it? ”

Hearing this, Chen Xie's face suddenly sank and said: "Your Majesty, you can't do this, it is related to the Ming Dynasty, and nothing can be treated sloppily." Zhu Youzhen was obviously stunned, and immediately returned to the essence of the emperor, stood up and arched his hand: "I thank Sihua for reminding me, please continue to advise." ”

Chen Xie's face was relieved at this time, and he continued: "I can't talk about advice, so let's talk about the minister's shallowness." In Yichen's view, the most important thing at the moment is to improve the supervision mechanism of the advisory bureaus at all levels. The secondary thing is the perfection of the government system, and the government system and the imperial examination system that Taizu created at the beginning, to say a disrespectful word, are missing. ”

Zhu Youzhen became more and more strict, this is a mention of Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Xie dared to say this in front of him, which is a very loyal expression. Otherwise, who will tell him that Taizu is not doing well, and you can't learn from Taizu. Facts have proved that Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang is a special case, his energy is very strong, and one person can do the work of many people. The centralized system he created, in the final analysis, was still based on the ability of the individual, and later his children and grandchildren did not have this ability, and the emergence of the cabinet system and the system of celebrants and supervisors were actually a kind of system derived from the emperor's power that could not be taken care of too comprehensively. An emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang is cool, and any power is in his hands, but he is too tired. Most of the other emperors couldn't be like him.

"Speak boldly, and I will listen carefully." Zhu Youzhen's attitude came out, and Chen Xie said: "Your Majesty, the minister said before that the current government's control of the grassroots is very poor. There are not more officials in the Ming Dynasty, but less. With the development of industry and commerce, the phenomenon of population movement has intensified, and the disadvantages of the existing government will not be reflected in ten years. Therefore, it is necessary to take precautions and improve the existing controls. First of all, let's talk about grassroots rights, this point must be improved, otherwise in the countryside, the government will not be able to intervene in anything, and it is all the gentry, clans, and petty officials who have the final say. These people are not paid, they also have to support their families, and after a long time, how can they not reach out and put it in their pockets. Once you get used to it, these people take it for granted. This is a layer of peeling for ordinary people. Therefore, in the future, there should be more power institutions at the township level. Chen Xie said as he picked up his pen and drew a structural diagram on the paper.

"Your Majesty, please see, this is the county, and below are the townships and towns, don't underestimate these township institutions, they can control the power in the hands of the government to the greatest extent. A person's ability is limited, and a county order governs a county, and the population ranges from 70,000 to 80,000 or more than 100,000. There were some contradictions and disputes between the common people, and they relied more on the clans and gentry to mediate. These people have grasped the power at the grassroots level and have indeed solved a lot of troubles for the government. What about the other way around? Having the power in their hands, what do they do to ordinary people? The foundation of the Ming Dynasty is not these gentry and small officials, but ordinary people, because they are the lowest level. Not to mention, five years ago, what was the situation of Daming? Can you not be clear? So what were these people who held power at the grassroots level doing at that time? It cannot be ruled out that there are individual gentry who are giving alms, and their good deeds are worthy of recognition. But more gentry and bullies are taking advantage of the opportunity to hoard grain and sell it at high prices to annex land. Their actions have exacerbated the breeding of popular unrest. They were first and foremost the beneficiaries of their rights, but they did not defend the court that gave them rights. For such a person, what should be done with it? I couldn't do it before, because it was difficult to manage that layer, but what about in the future? Indulgence? ”

A question was thrown, Zhu Youzhen fell into deep thought, and was silent for a long time. Without more than 10 years of popular uprisings, Zhu Youzhen would not face up to this problem, in the past, Da Ming said that there were more officials at every turn, but now it seems that there are not too many officials, but too few. Of course, this is Chen Xie's statement, and Zhu Youzhen still needs to think about it before he can agree.

"Sihua, you can't let people and jinshi be these petty officials, right? It used to be the work of small officials, what can they do? I can't pull that face. The number of officials has increased, and the expenses of the imperial court have also increased. Zhu Youzhen was still very hesitant and couldn't make up his mind.

Chen Xie continued: "You are right, but compared to the increase in officials, what about the increase in the income of the imperial court? In contrast, you will find that the rate of income of the imperial court will be much higher than the rate of expenditure. Another point, after the establishment of these grassroots power institutions, how much more taxes can be collected for the imperial court in the tax link, have you ever thought about it? ”

Zhu Youzhen still couldn't agree, and muttered: "Then who will do these petty officials?" ”

Chen Xie was prepared and said with a smile: "This involves a system reform, and we must start with the imperial examination. ”

Zhu Youzhen sighed, and he was going to toss the imperial examination again, he had already tossed enough before. But looking at Chen Xie's determined eyes, Zhu Youzhen had no choice but to smile bitterly: "Okay, you say." Chen Xie smiled and said: "Your Majesty, first of all, I want to talk about a phenomenon, when the Beijing Division will take the big competition, have you ever seen those candidates with gray beards?" The minister saw it when he was taking the township exam, and when he asked, he was sixty years old, and he was still taking the exam. So the minister may ask His Majesty, even if he is selected as a lifter and a jinshi, how many years will he be able to serve the imperial court? ”

"Ah......h Zhu Youzhen let out an exclamation in his tone, and was really asked by Chen Xie, this is the truth. For a while, my brain was confused, and I had the heart to say that not everyone who raised people and jinshi was old, but when I thought about it, under the current imperial examination system, most of the people who can be promoted to the jinshi are over forty years old, and many officials can't work for a few years in office, so they have to return to their hometowns. The officials everywhere are a group of old men, and if they don't say it well, their ability to do things is definitely not as good as that of young people. Steady is steady.

Zhu Youzhen's mind began to go around in circles, he wanted to figure out what Chen Xie wanted to say, but he couldn't get out of this circle. The imperial examination for officials began in the Sui and Tang dynasties, with the purpose of cracking down on the monopoly of officials by large gatekeepers and giving ordinary people a ladder to advance. The biggest feature of this system is fairness. From the beginning of the Sui Dynasty to the basic perfection of the Tang Dynasty, it can be said that this system has condensed the wisdom and wisdom of the feudal status of the past dynasties. (To be continued......)