The twilight is heavy, and the fishing boat is late.

The muddy Yellow River passes through sand, and as the evening breeze blows, the water swirls around the piers.

A huge steam train passed through the river, and thick white smoke rose over the Yellow River bridge.

The sound of a clatter pierced through the clouds and reached the market town ten miles away, where a little smoke had risen from the houses.

With the passage of the main railway line, the number of market towns along the way has also increased, and the population of Daming towns has also increased dramatically.

Now all Zhu Youzhen can see is that he can see the densely populated towns almost without staying far outside the train.

Occasionally, you can see people driving a horse-drawn carriage along a country road, full of melons and fruits.

In addition, Zhu Youzhen can also see some steaming factories, the sound of rolling steel can be faintly heard, and the workers and engineers in blue shirts are directing something on the 100-meter-high iron frame.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but smile slightly, the Ming Dynasty at this time is like an era of combining classical and modern, weird but not messy.

"The census has just been completed last year, and Henan has 11.4 more first-class citizens than five years ago, but the second-class citizens and third-class citizens have increased a little more, and now they are engaged in major public construction and high-risk positions in factories, and the mortality rate is relatively high.

Chen Zhenhui got Zhu Youzhen's permission to get on the special car, and sat at the same table as Zhu Youzhen, eating Henan braised noodles with Zhu Youzhen, and talking about the population of Henan.

"This move is very good, the Ming Dynasty divides the citizens into three classes, not necessarily discriminating against the people who are not of my Han blood, but the social relationship is destined to be a pyramid, there must be hardship, we Han people want to think that everyone has a good life must have people who are exploited by us;

Han people followed me to conquer the world, revive the Ming Dynasty, sacrificed countless interests, and the blood of countless people was spilled on this land, and they deserved to enjoy the benefits given to them by this era, and these second- and third-class citizens, we did not slaughter them, it is considered a grace;

But since I am already a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, for the long-term plan of the country, it is natural to ensure that it has a sufficient population base, and it is also necessary to properly protect its life length, and it is not only necessary to let the horses run and not let the horses graze, but the general outline of sinicization cannot be abandoned, except for the Han people, the second and third class citizens can only receive Confucian education. ”

After Zhu Youzhen said, Chen Zhenhui nodded: "Weichen understands that now the second- and third-class citizens of Henan are no different in language and behavior from my first-class citizens, only more pedantic than first-class citizens, and even more loyal to the court. ”

"That's good, but it's normal for them to feel happy now, and now they are better than when they were serfs, at least they have books to read, fields to cultivate, jobs to do, and the court to help them in disaster years, which is shelved during the reign of their indigenous chiefs, who cares whether they live or die, that is the real life like a mustard, is the real slave."

Zhu Youzhen said and said: "But first-class citizens can not fall too into corruption and indulge in pleasure, you, as the governor, must ensure the superiority of these first-class citizens as the upper class, so that everyone is a useful material, the government should take appropriate compulsory measures for training, for those who are lazy, you may wish to lower the level of citizenship, low-class citizens can also select a small number of outstanding talents or talents who have made outstanding contributions to the Ming Dynasty to increase their level of citizenship, but this opening is a little tighter, but it can't be without, It is necessary to give them hope to rise, so that society can be stable. ”

"Wechen understands, first-class citizens are the interests of the core class of my Ming Dynasty, are the compatriots of Wechen, Wechen will never sit idly by and watch them fall willingly, in recent years, the majority of them have gone to Dongying, but Wechen has issued an order, Henan first-class citizens under the age of 25 are not allowed to go east to Dongying to seek pleasure, need to concentrate on studying, and have to support idle at home and do nothing, offenders will be punished by their parents and even themselves, but because of this, the people say that the official is the housekeeper's wife, and the people's eating, drinking and having fun are controlled, Even the cabinet has said that this is a selfish move by Weichen who does not want to pay taxes, and it is a closed policy. ”

Chen Zhenhui said.

"You're right, as a local governor, it's right to have your own different opinions according to local conditions, I have recently been considering increasing local autonomy, everything has to be managed by the cabinet, one is easy to make the cabinet bigger, the other is low administrative efficiency, a policy can only be implemented with the permission of the cabinet, which often delays a lot of time, the economic situation of each place is different, the cabinet cannot be comprehensive, local autonomy can be more practical; Third, it is not easy to breed corruption, and local officials do not have to do too much at the expense of local interests in order to pander to central officials in order to get promoted or retain their official positions, but they must not let local power too much, at least military power cannot be delegated. ”

After Zhu Youzhen said this, Chen Zhenhui also replied:

"The county of the Han and Tang dynasties guards the weight, so the Han and Tang dynasties do not have to rely on the central snort to live, the officials are clean and peaceful, but it is also easy to make the princes divided, and since the two Song Dynasty, the local weight is small, and I am the Ming Dynasty is the separation of powers, although the local can not resist the central government but it is also difficult to coordinate the locality, at least every time there is a big chaos and it is difficult to peace, I have to set up a governor to control it, today His Majesty wants to strengthen local autonomy, and Weichen thinks it is a retro good governance."

"It doesn't matter if it's retro or not, the important thing is that the government is harmonious, and the central empire with political unity will definitely be difficult to centralize power, so even if it can, it will be exhausting, and in the end, it tends to be conservative and stable;

It seems more reasonable to implement local autonomy and central co-ordination if the culture is unified;

Or there may be a strongman, who prefers to be alone, or even preferring to do his best, which may be better for the time of national turmoil, but if there is peace today, such a person can only keep the empire in a false sense of flattery;

Therefore, at least for a few hundred years after the Ming Dynasty, there can only be one emperor;

If, hundreds of years later, the social contradictions intensified again, and a strong man was needed, it would only be a matter for the future, but now I want to make this kingdom realize that even if the king is in the dark, it will not be ruined;

I have this foundation, as long as I am willing, I can achieve it, first-class citizens are free, and can even decide who their parents are, and there are no flattering officials in the local area, only pragmatic officials, and the central government has no faint monarchy and ministers to chaos the world. ”

When Zhu Youzhen said this, Chen Zhenhui remained silent, he didn't quite understand what scene His Majesty depicted, but he knew that His Majesty didn't want the tragedy of Chongzhen's seventeenth year to happen again in this ancient land.

At that time, Henan was still starving, Tartars, rogues, soldiers and bandits were rampant, and human life was as cheap as mustard, and the root cause was the reason why the greed of the imperial rulers led to the desperation of the people.

"And now, Your Majesty wants the people of the ruling class to be confined to a red line that can be exploited and cannot be exploited."

Chen Zhenhui thought so.

(End of chapter)