Daming: Lend the system to Emperor Hongwu at the beginning

Chapter 153 The Barefoot Doctor System and Official Salaries

To develop medicine, in fact, Zhu Biao had this idea a long time ago.

However, the productivity was really insufficient before. The reform of the official system, the reform of education, the construction of railways, the development of scientific research from scratch, and the development of industry and commerce required him to do too many things, and he really could not take care of the medical system.

But now it's less of a problem.

Even though Daming spent a lot of money and has been carrying out nationwide infrastructure construction, thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the imperial court's annual revenue has been steadily increasing.

That's enough for him to make big moves that he couldn't do before.

Zhu Biao's idea is very simple, it's fine if he didn't do it before, but if he wants to do it now, he can go straight to it.

Recruit doctors from the fifteen provincial-level administrative regions of Ming Dynasty, and evaluate the medical skills of these doctors. The large hospitals in the city trained a large number of barefoot doctors with basic medical knowledge and spread them to all counties and towns to establish a system of barefoot doctors.

This system seems huge, but it is actually not difficult to realize by relying on the influence of Lao Zhu and the national power of Ming Dynasty.

After all, Lao Zhu had established a similar system before.

For example, the food chief system that involves taxation, and the sociology system that Zhu Biao just participated in the reform.

Both of these are the imperial court's lowest-level political and ecological framework, and they are very well implemented now.

Of course, this is good only in the Hongwu Dynasty. The original intention of Zhu Yuanzhang to set up these two systems was to enable the children of ordinary people from poor families to be able to afford education, and to continuously import talents for the Ming Dynasty.

Officials are not allowed to intervene in the taxation of grassroots people, so as to minimize the exploitation of grassroots people by corrupt officials.

But the imagination is beautiful, the reality is very skinny.

After the Hongwu Dynasty, the head of grain began to collude with the government to exploit the people, and the sociology system almost existed in name only in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

In Zhu Biao's view, although these policies of Lao Zhu may not be perfect, they can be said to be very innovative attempts in feudal society.

It's a pity that people are greedy. Without corresponding supervision measures, once the head of food or the sociology master has power, the first thought is to use these powers to pocket money instead of For the well-being of the people.

This is a problem of the administrators of the Ming Empire after Lao Zhu, not a problem of the system itself.

There is no perfect system in the world.

There are loopholes in any system, the key is whether the managers of those empires can check and fill the gaps in time.

Listening to what Zhu Biao described to him about the future of the Imperial Hospital, Xue Li couldn't help being in a trance for a while, feeling as if he had passed away.

To be honest, he had watched too many departments being restructured before.

The Academy of Sciences, a department that researches strange skills and ingenuity, grew from scratch, and gradually became the current behemoth bit by bit, all happened before his eyes.

Now Wan Hu, the dean of the Academy of Sciences, is already a member of the court from the second rank, and he is in the Sumeru Illusionary Realm, next to the office of His Highness the Crown Prince.

Wan Hu once told him that when he saw steam trains, street lamps, high-yielding rice, and airships, all of which were researched by the Academy of Sciences and gradually applied to all aspects of the Ming Empire, gradually changing the entire world, the sense of accomplishment was unparalleled.

Such glory and status, it would be a lie to say that I don't envy you.

He also fantasized that one day doctors, a profession that is also shady, would be respected like these researchers.

Medicine can also set off a vigorous revolution in the entire Ming Dynasty

Xue Li believes that not only him, this should be the dream and expectation of every medical family!

But now that the dream has become a reality, he really has such an opportunity.

"I have always believed that if you want Daming to get better and better, you must let professional people do professional things."

"The establishment of a medical system within the entire Ming Dynasty is a major event, and it is also a matter of great benefit. What I can do now is to make a framework and a direction, but how to do it is still up to the Professionals like you, Xue Yuanzheng, will do it!"

"If you lack management talents, you can come to me and I will arrange for you. The same is true for lack of funds."

"In the future, the School of Medicine will move to the Sumeru Fantasy Realm as a whole. If you have any difficulties, you can come to me to solve them at any time!" Zhu Biao said
"Yes!"

"Old minister...Old minister must live up to His Highness's expectations."

Xue Zheng is almost 60 years old, but now he still has a feeling of dying for his confidant.

"Of course, I have to make it clear to Xue Yuanzheng in advance that in the future, the medical school will have a large amount of money flowing, and it will be related to the lives of many people, so the entire medical school system will also be included in the imperial court's supervision system. I also hope that Can you understand!"

"understand!"

"It should be!" Xue Zheng agreed.

"very good!"

"Then let go and do it!"

Seeing Xue Zheng leaving full of chicken blood, Zhu Biao nodded in satisfaction.

Seeing that Daming can be transformed into the appearance in his heart bit by bit in his own hands, to be honest, Zhu Biao is also very fulfilled.

"Your Highness, please see Mr. Li Ge!" Seeing that Zhu Biao's round of talks had finally come to an end, Fang Xiaoru, who had now been promoted to a Hanlin Bachelor of the Imperial Academy, hurried in to report.

"Well, I just rested for less than a minute, and now I'm back to work!" Zhu Biao looked helpless.

I work every day, at least five hours a day!

If the three times the time of Xumi Illusory Realm is counted, it will be fifteen hours.

Working thirty hours a day, this is so outrageous that no one would believe it!
It's really not easy to be the prince of the country.

I will cry if I continue.

"Let him in!" Zhu Biao said helplessly.

Li Shanchang begged to see him, but he couldn't push it back, so he could only see him.

"Your Highness, this is the salary and welfare of the officials in the world that you asked me to determine. Please see if there is any problem!" After Li Shanchang came in, he directly presented his memorial to Zhu Biao.

Zhu Biao took it, opened it for a rough inspection, and nodded.

This is already the fifth time since the early years of Hongwu that the imperial court has increased the salaries of officials.

According to Zhu Biao's request, this time, in addition to the basic salary, the travel expenses, year-end bonuses, and the most important salary increase table corresponding to the working years of officials of each rank were also formally stipulated, as well as pensions.

That is to say, from this year onwards, starting from the first year of serving as officials, the salaries of all Ming officials will not only increase with the promotion of rank, but also with the increase of the number of years in office.

And as long as you have been an official for 15 years, after you resign and return to your hometown, you can still get your salary from the court every year until you die.

Although this kind of welfare cannot be compared with the five insurances and one housing fund in modern society, it has far surpassed any feudal dynasty in China.

This means that now the Ming Dynasty has basically completed the first industrialization, and this money is not bad, otherwise, the salary raised this time can directly bankrupt the Ming Dynasty...

In fact, the salaries of court officials in the Hongwu Dynasty have also been raised in history, and not only once, but three times in total.

Although it is still not high even after being promoted, don't forget that Zhu Yuanzhang has formulated a policy of preferential treatment for imperial examination scholars.

For example, the reduction or exemption of corvee, or the tax exemption system.

Otherwise, why did Zhu Yuanzhang kill officials so ruthlessly in the early Ming Dynasty, but the scholars who took the imperial examinations every year still competed fiercely.

In the final analysis, it is because the temptation to become an official is greater.

Of course, it was this policy of preferential treatment for scholars that eventually led to the downfall of the gentry class in the Ming Dynasty and its demise.

It even affected the later Qing Dynasty. Yongzheng's official and gentry payment of grain is to solve the leftover problems of this policy.

But to be honest, in the Hongwu Dynasty in history, this kind of reduction and exemption of corvee was not as terrible as later, and what Lao Zhu set was also a temporary policy.

In the Hongwu Dynasty, even first-rank officials could only exempt 24 people from the corvee at most. The so-called complete non-payment of officials and gentry is the result of the efforts of generations of scholars to make this policy from temporary to permanent and the continuous expansion of tax exemptions. result.

So it is precisely because he has seen the entire history of the Ming Dynasty that Zhu Yuanzhang did not let go of this gap this time and set up a preferential policy for scholars.

Zhu Biao agrees with this point. In Zhu Biao's view, once this kind of opening is released, it will be difficult to close it.

Now the preferential policy is gone, but the salary can be increased.

How can Zhu Biao not understand the saying that being an official for thousands of miles is only for money? He has always advocated high salaries and honesty.

Looking at the memorial submitted by Li Shanchang, Zhu Biao nodded and said: "No problem, let's distribute salaries to officials at all levels according to this in the future!"

"This is already the limit of what the court can do at this stage. If some people are still greedy, then I'm afraid I will kill like my father!" Zhu Biao said.

"Your Highness, don't worry, both the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate are very strict in investigating corruption. I believe that at least at this stage, most of the Ming officials are still good!"

"But Your Highness, there are some things that need to be prepared earlier!"

Seeing Zhu Biao looking at himself, Li Shanchang pondered for a while before explaining: "Corruption and bribery usually start from the grassroots, especially the county magistrate level, because they deal directly with gentry and are most vulnerable to corruption by those people."

"But from another point of view, this is also caused by our weak strength at the grassroots level. Those county magistrates go to the localities alone to serve. If they want to do things, they must compromise with the local gentry and give them certain policy convenience. If they don't, they won't be able to do anything!"

"According to the report from the Ministry of Officials, some bad signs have actually begun to appear below. For example, if you want to do things, you must join forces with those gentry, and you must even take bribes. Let those gentry grasp the handle, so that you can have political achievements and rise to the top. If you want to be a clean official, the gentry will not cooperate with you, your political performance will be bad, and you will not be able to get promoted, and this is where the current contradiction lies."

"If you don't find a way to get rid of this root cause, corruption and bribery will always exist, and it will never be eradicated."

"Indeed!" Zhu Biao nodded in sympathy when he heard Li Shanchang's words.

This contradiction was basically unsolvable in feudal society, because the imperial court was not productive enough to send too many officials to effectively rule the countryside, so it had to rely on the gentry class.

This is also the origin of the so-called emperor and scholar-bureaucrats ruling the world together.

Those gentry are actually equivalent to the village chiefs and town chiefs in modern society. They need to be responsible to the county magistrate at the top, and manage the people at the bottom.

But they are not only managers, they are also a member of the managed.

It sounds pretty fucked up to take care of yourself.

But the reality is like this, if you don't do this, the court's laws and regulations will not be implemented at all.

And for those gentry, if they don't use their power to make profits for themselves, it's really unreasonable.

"What does Mr. Li Ge think?" Zhu Biao asked.

"Your Highness, there is no other way than to increase the number of officials in the yamen, and the number of officials who have been directly assigned to do serious things in the past." Li Shanchang said cautiously.

This is another costly item that requires huge expenses, and Lao Li feels a little embarrassed. After all, he just reported the official salary increase, and now he is asking for money again.

And there is another sensitive point from Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang's previous ruling policy has always been that the imperial power should not go to the countryside. Lao Zhu was born as a farmer, but he was often bullied by corrupt officials when he was a child. That's why he set up the post of food chief to let them pay food to the people instead of the government.

Now Li Shanchang's opinion is obviously to strengthen the court's management at the grassroots level, which runs counter to Lao Zhu's previous administrative policy.

Zhu Biao is not worried about this.

The times have changed, and naturally the way to deal with one thing will also be different.

Again, the industrial revolution has multiplied social wealth every year, and while the total amount of social wealth has increased, the wealth that the court can control has also doubled.

In addition to being used by Zhu Biao for national infrastructure construction, this wealth is to continuously reform official positions, increase the number of officials, and strengthen the imperial court's control over local areas.

When Zhu Biao reformed the official system before, he directly devolved the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple to the county level, which was part of this consideration.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate represents the power of supervision, and the Dali Temple represents the power of judicial trial.

To put it bluntly, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is used to supervise officials in the county-level yamen, while the Dali Temple directly takes away the judicial power that originally belonged to the county magistrate.

The appearance of these two departments in the list of county-level yamen has solved more than half of the problem of corrupt officials that Lao Zhu was worried about before. Although I dare not say that there will be no more in the future, at least it will not be so unscrupulous.

Now that county-level supervision and power restriction have been established, what Zhu Biao will do next is to strengthen the law enforcement power of county-level yamen, and to put it bluntly, it is necessary to take back law enforcement power at the grassroots level from the hands of local gentry. up.

And the first step Zhu Biao intends to start from the Ministry of Punishment.

"Mr. Li Ge, I have already discussed with my father. The next step in Ming Dynasty's reform will be on the army. All military households will be transformed into civilian households, and the number of the army will be reduced for the first time. The Ming army must implement the system of elite soldiers and strong generals."

"As for these soldiers who were forced to demobilize, I am not going to send them directly with a few hundred treasures, but I will let them go to the county government offices in various parts of Daming to become the class office servants under the dual jurisdiction of the county magistrate and the Ministry of Criminal Justice."

"From then on, government servants are no longer lowly officials. The imperial court will give them a nine-rank treatment, and enjoy the same salary, allowances, year-end bonuses, and pensions as imperial officials."

"How does Mr. Li Ge feel?" Zhu Biao asked.

　Due to some force majeure, there is only one update today, sorry everyone
　　
　
(End of this chapter)