If the imperial power is not allowed to go to the countryside and be managed at the township level, it will be difficult to implement any policy.

For example, the current literacy private school promoted by Su Che is very well implemented at the county level, but if it wants to be implemented in the countryside, it is extremely difficult, even if this is free literacy, and the court contributes money and efforts, but it is still a little thankless.

The attitude of those country gentry is very clear, there is no need for so many literate people, if there are more literate people, it will have a very big impact on stability, so it is necessary to let these people continue to be so ignorant.

Su Che was naturally dissatisfied with such a status quo, so the change was certain.

The question is – how to change?

In order to control the village level, Zhu Yuanzhang's response method was to organize households and people, protect the armor policy, and make a person in charge in each village.

But even this only makes the fiscal aspect much easier.

If the county magistrate wants to govern the place, he still needs the assistance of the officials, clan elders, and gentry, otherwise many things will not be done.

In fact, it was enough for the rulers of ancient times to do this.

Finance is the lifeblood of the central court of the imperial court, and other things are trivial, after all, it has been the case since ancient times, and it is difficult for big guys to have much pursuit.

But Su Che is different, he has more things to do, so naturally he will not be satisfied only in this way.

Only by letting the imperial power go to the countryside can the eradication of illiteracy be carried out thoroughly.

In the face of these deep-rooted squire elders, Su Che thought about it for a long time, and finally endured it, if he used a butcher's knife and killed him, although it could be a shock for a while, but it couldn't last long, so he couldn't keep killing, right?

Therefore, it is necessary to find another solution.

However, for a while, Su Che did not have a better solution.

He didn't continue to think that there is a limit to a person's strength, and so is the mind, and although the geniuses of this era are limited by the times, it does not mean that they are not smart enough, in fact, it is the opposite.

Su Che immediately summoned the cabinet members to discuss the matter.

Soon, the members of the cabinet, including the crown prince Zhu Biao, came to the council hall.

Su Che sat on it and gave the problem he had encountered - how to let the imperial power go to the countryside, strengthen the management ability of the countryside, and promote any policies of the imperial court so smoothly?

When the cabinet ministers heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other, and after a short silence, everyone began to discuss that since they had reached the center of power of the cabinet ministers, it was impossible to go back to take care of the so-called Confucianism.

After some discussion, everyone really gave a lot of reliable proposals.

First of all, the power of the state and county yamen can be directly mobilized.

The county yamen often went to the subordinate townships and villages to urge the requisition, sometimes led the team to arrest bandits, sometimes mediated village and clan disputes, and stopped armed fighting, and still had a lot of influence in the local area.

Relying on the influence of the county yamen, permanent offices were set up in the townships and towns, and the corresponding power system was established, which was responsible for the special promotion of the orders of the imperial court.

If to this extent, those places are still unwilling to cooperate, or even openly resist the local resident officials, it will be a confrontation with the imperial court.

In a word, to crack down on local underworld forces, you also need to find an excuse, if the other party openly attacks the court officials, it is an intention to rebel, suppress the rebellious family, just need a list!

Except for this offer.

There are also people who give different opinions.

Set up more inspection divisions in the county yamen, give enough force to the localities, and let the local form the concept of "zo and miscellaneous defense", that is, the county, the inspection, the main book, etc., each person is in charge of a region, and through the zoning jurisdiction below the county, so as to form a county under the imperial power.

However, in this way, there will also be corresponding problems, that is, to make the already bloated system of local officials even more bloated, which will bring a lot of trouble to the subsequent government decree system.

But a lot of times things are like this, there are positives and negatives, there are benefits and there are disadvantages, and this is unavoidable.

If you want the imperial power to go to the countryside, you must expand the corresponding system of government decrees.

In a word, the cost of imperial power going to the countryside is very high.

Of course, once this kind of thing is done, the benefits are also very huge.

But.

There were also cabinet ministers who expressed the opposite opinion, and he thought that instead of guarding the squire clans, it was better to enlist them and use their strength to accomplish their goals.

It's a very different way of thinking.

It is possible to set up a public bureau to win over the gentry and wealthy families, and let the hands of the imperial court penetrate deep into all towns, townships and villages.

The minister explained the so-called public bureau.

It is to let the gentry and wealthy families of those rural towns be organized together, let them elect the leading gentry from among themselves, and then approve and appoint them by the state and county officials, and these people form an institution such as a public bureau to manage local affairs.

The correspondence and meeting etiquette between state and county officials and public bureaus basically refer to the practice of the higher and lower government offices.

Through the public bureau system, the imperial court could control the local gentry.

Once the imperial court has any decrees, let these gentry be responsible for promoting, and if they do well, it will be a political achievement, and they can continue to rise to the ranks.

This is not a small attraction for those squires and wealthy families.

Zhu Yuanzhang's household and household protection policy is difficult to operate sustainably and effectively, because although Baojia has legitimacy and has fixed staff to protect the land, the land protection is all ordinary people and has limited authority in the local area.

In addition, Baojia does not have a stable source of funds, and there are no armed personnel under direct control, so the task of land protection is mainly to run errands, and it is difficult to fully control the countryside through this system.

If the public bureau is authorized by the government and has local legitimacy, the gentry have meritorious names and titles, and there are gentry who sit in the bureau to do things, and then collect bureau fees in various ways, the gentry will have a fixed income.

In addition, the public bureau also has armed personnel such as regimental training, change training, and bureau ding......

In this way, the public bureau can directly force the villagers to obey!

Su Che couldn't help frowning as he listened to the many plans discussed by the cabinet ministers, these options were difficult to choose.

If you don't rely on the squire, just rely on the county yamen, it will take a lot of effort to implement this thing perfectly.

If you rely on the local squire, this matter can be easily solved.

But the question is,

Giving power to these people is tantamount to drinking water to quench your thirst, and there will be endless troubles!

Su Che thought about it for a while, and finally chose the stupidest method.

Relying on the influence of the county yamen, permanent offices were set up in the townships and towns, and the corresponding power system was established, which was responsible for the special promotion of the orders of the imperial court!

Snatch back the power and influence of the countryside from the hands of those squires!

At the same time, more inspection divisions have been set up in the county town to give the local government sufficient force and let the local government form a "mixed defense".

But then the overhead is too great.

But as long as things can be done, no matter what the cost, it will be worth it.

As the meeting ended, the cabinet ministers left the council hall and couldn't help but discuss: "Why doesn't Your Majesty agree to use the power of those squires?" ”

"Yes, I also think that if you use the power of the squire, this may be the easiest solution......"

"If you do this, it will strengthen the power of the squire, Your Majesty is from a reckless background, probably better than anyone else, these country gentry are not reliable at all, so I would rather go near and far than rely on the power of those squires."

"Well, there are some things that must be gained and lost, if you rely on these squires and let their power rise, the consequences will be unimaginable! Your Majesty, you are thinking far. ”

At the same time, in the council hall.

The crown prince Zhu Biao did not leave with the courtiers, but stayed here.

The father and son are discussing another thing - opening roads, cashing out work, building roads from villages to towns, and then building roads from towns to county seats, repairing the roads completely, and making some of those poor mountains and rivers disappear.

In this way, the problem of insufficient control at the bottom can be greatly improved.

But opening up the road is also a matter of labor and money.

Su Che's plan was to use the steady stream of printed treasure money to hire wrestlers from villages, towns and even counties to help build roads.

However, Zhu Biao's idea is that he doesn't need to be paid, as long as he buys good spiritual rice with treasure money and provides enough spiritual food, those low-level wrestlers will naturally go there happily to help build roads.

If you directly pay treasure money as wages, the middle link will inevitably be deducted by some officials, but if you don't spend money, only materials, this deduction will be greatly reduced.

Of course, it's just a reduction, and there's no way to avoid it entirely.

After all, the world is so big and there are so many people, it is very difficult to completely eradicate those moths, so we can only formulate corresponding rules and avoid them as much as possible.

Zhu Biao's suggestion is quite good, even in the era of the early Ming Dynasty, it is still not easy for the low-level wrestlers to eat a full meal, those spiritual rice is expensive, ordinary farmers are reluctant to eat at all, they are all used to pay back, and then exchanged for relatively ordinary food to fill their stomachs.

Su Che nodded, thinking that Zhu Biao had thought it very well.

Then Zhu Biao put forward four or five opinions and ideas one after another, all of which were aimed at the matter of opening the road, these ideas were very decent, even Su Che couldn't find anything wrong, he couldn't help but nodded, and couldn't help but think in his heart, no wonder Zhu Yuanzhang likes his eldest son so much, his ability is indeed good.

After the two discussed it, the matter was settled.

As for the issue of road construction in the states and counties, a person in charge is needed.

In Zhu Biao's view, he should be the one in charge of this matter.

However, Su Che thought about it for a while, and still shook his head, feeling that it was not appropriate.

Building the road, if it is completed, it is definitely a great achievement, but on the contrary, there are quite a lot of people who have offended, as the crown prince, Zhu Biao does not need to do it himself, he only needs to sit firmly in the Diaoyutai and preside over the overall situation in the back, which is what he should do as a person in power.

No matter how well the people below do, in the end it is the credit of the leaders above, if the people below do not do well, it is naturally the people below who take the blame, this is the so-called leadership art.

However, the crown prince Zhu Biao obviously disagrees with this view, although he also understands his father's thoughts, but he also has his own insistence.

Zhu Biao said seriously: "Father, I know that you are doing this for my good, but there are some things that I think I should do myself, so that I can grow further, instead of learning under your wings all the time......"

After saying this, Zhu Biao asked cautiously: "Father, what do you think?" ”

Although Zhu Biao, the prince of Yiwen, is good enough, it also depends on who he is, in front of an emperor like Lao Zhu, it is not enough at all.

All along, he has been completely shrouded in his father's light, and the gap between him and his father is simply a cloud of mud, and the more he grows, the more he can feel how exaggerated the gap is.

Even if Lao Zhu has unconditional trust in Zhu Biao and fills his crown prince team, his power has long exceeded the limit of a prince, but the more this is the case, the more careful Zhu Biao becomes, for fear of disappointing his father.

It is precisely this mood that makes Zhu Biao, the prince of Yiwen, eager to make a career for himself, before he wanted to preside over the reform of the new coup law, and now he wants to preside over the opening of the road, all because of this idea.

Facing Zhu Biao's insistence, Su Che couldn't help but be stunned, he frowned, thought for a moment, and finally nodded.

Su Che said seriously: "Since you want to do it, then let it go, we will always stand behind you to support you, don't think about what will happen if you fail, with us to support you, no one in this world can touch you!" ”

Listening to his father's words, Zhu Biao was immediately moved, and hurriedly said: "Thank you for your father's success, the child will not let his father down!" ”

Su Che didn't say anything, just patted Zhu Biao's shoulder, everything was silent!

Soon, the terrifying machine of the Ming Dynasty was running at high speed again.

……

Jinhua Pujiang, Zhengzhai Town.

This township is named after the Zheng family, which is enough to show the glory of this family.

Zheng Qi, the ancestor of the Zheng family, is benevolent and friendly, filial piety, and takes "self-cultivation, family harmony, and peace in the world" as a lofty ideal.

When he was dying, he ordered his children and grandchildren to live together without separating their families, and as a result, the Zheng family has lived together for more than hundreds of years, and more than 3,000 people have shared wealth and food!

Zhu Yuanzhang once gave it the first one in the south of the Yangtze River!

At this moment, there are a few "uninvited guests" in Zhengzhai Town, who are the latest township office staff appointed by the imperial court.

When these fresh faces entered Zhengzhai Town, they naturally attracted a lot of attention, and many people came around to ask them why they came to Zhengzhai Town?

A middle-aged man in a Confucian shirt, named Yan Shitong, said with a smile: "I am a clerk in Zhengzhai Town appointed by the imperial court, and if the big guy has anything in the future, he can come to me directly, and he doesn't need to be helped by the local squire." ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone immediately looked at each other, since ancient times, the affairs of Zheng Zhai Town have been managed by the Zheng family, and now, it is about to change?

There were people from the Zheng family in the crowd, and they hurriedly went back to tell the head of the family.

At this time, the head of the Zheng family was Zheng Ba, and after hearing the report of his subordinates, he couldn't help frowning and muttered: "I have heard about this matter for a long time, and the imperial court intends to strengthen the influence of the local government, but I didn't expect it to come down so soon......"

Then he raised his head and said dismissively:

"They want the township office, then let them get it, do our Zheng family still have the right to pinch this sesame seed?"

"Since Your Majesty has named us the first in Jiangnan, then we must set an example of the first in Jiangnan!"

"Let them do it themselves!"

Obviously, Zheng Bao didn't take this small office to heart at all, the Zheng family is such a behemoth, can he still be moved?

However, it didn't take long for news to come again, Yan Shitong of the office received an anonymous letter, saying that the Zheng family had encroached on more than 10,000 acres of Lingtian, and it was basically taken by trickery, according to the investigation, this matter is true!

The office ordered the Zheng family to return this 10,000 acres of spiritual land!!

(End of chapter)