Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 786
The newly established townships are named after the local geographical features, and are directly under the management of the county government.

This policy is actually a continuation of breaking the inability of officials to be promoted due to status issues. The new positions are all imperial official status, which allows officials to have another promotion channel, so as to better mobilize and motivate them enthusiasm and self-motivation.

This has been proven by numerous examples.

In the process of large-scale relocation and resettlement that lasted for several years, many talents with outstanding abilities emerged in various places, but they could only be officials because they were not born in the imperial examination. Many talents have been transferred to the court economic system officials, which greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of a large number of people with the same status as them, and the effect is also very good.

After the township-level government is set up, the corresponding village chiefs will also receive certain subsidies, so that they will have a greater sense of belonging and responsibility, understand that they are doing things for the court, and strengthen their support for the government. Daming's centripetal force.

The village head is different from the village head of the later generations, because according to the system of the Ming Dynasty, every 110 households is one li, and there is one village head, and there are so many villages in the world, there will be several village heads in a densely populated area. It can better prevent the emergence of village tyrants.

Absolute power produces absolute corruption, and a mutual restraint mechanism must be established in order to reduce the incidence of corruption and reduce its harmfulness to society.

Now the village chiefs in Daming are basically squires with considerable wealth and reputation. These people have a weak sense of identity with the country and the nation. When encountering problems, they first consider the interests of their own clan, although from the perspective of human nature, it seems There is nothing wrong with it, but from the perspective of national righteousness, this approach is ultimately inappropriate.

Zhu Youjian will instruct the cabinet to write a letter to the local government. In the future, when selecting the head of the village, he will go through strict screening and inspection, and increase the number of retired officers and soldiers to hold this position, so as to check and balance the big gentry.

Retired officers and soldiers selected for the post must be those who have served for more than five years and who can read and write. Those who have participated in the campaign of suppressing bandits and captives are preferred.

Once a soldier's obedience and loyalty are developed, it is difficult to change. The appointment of such a person as a village chief will relatively reassure the court.

After figuring out what purpose should be achieved through the experience of Sun Cheng's family, Zhu Youjian ordered the cabinet ministers to enter the palace to discuss matters, and by the way ordered Jin Yiwei to move their family of three to Huangzhuang for resettlement.

After the cabinet ministers entered the palace, Sun Chuanting reported the strategy agreed upon by the cabinet in a short period of time. Zhu Youjian was satisfied with this, and took advantage of the opportunity to present his own plan. The cabinet ministers will discuss the specific details and implement them in Daming as soon as possible .

In the next few days, the discussion caused by Wu Weiye's article continued in the court. Among them, there were not only those who praised Zhu Zhiyu and Wu Weiye, but also many voices aimed at them and the newspaper.

Some said that Wu Meicun made false claims to invite fame; The authority of the newspaper seems to be too great, and the last item seems to be the ultimate goal of all the opposing voices.

Almost everyone with a heart can see that Huang Ming Weekly seems to be just a newspaper, but its huge social influence is gradually becoming apparent. All the information published in the newspaper will be widely disseminated in a short time, and Most people who read newspapers will almost always choose to trust the information in newspapers unconditionally. If they use this to deal with political opponents, it is an extremely sharp weapon.

Among these objections, the censors of the Procuratorate system are the most numerous. They believe that the newspaper office should not have the administrative functions of the imperial court. If it is not restricted, the power of the newspaper office will override certain officials. The harm to society caused by the use of people with intentions is very huge.

Amidst the turmoil of controversy, a letter requesting to limit the rights of the newspaper office and select competent officials to be stationed in the newspaper office was sent to the cabinet. For imperial viewing, but there was no movement from the palace.

Hearing so many unfavorable remarks against the newspaper and individuals, members of the editorial department of the newspaper and the two parties reacted differently to this.

Among the staff of the newspaper office, many people were terrified, worried that they would be retaliated against because of this. After all, those opposing voices had real power in their hands, especially those censors. If they were accidentally caught by the other party If you make a mistake, your future will be ruined.

Wu Weiye was very angry and threatened to publish an article in the next newspaper issue to strongly refute these opponents; while Zhu Zhiyu was calm and behaved as usual, and after his persuasion Under the influence of Wu Weiye, Wu Weiye also became quiet, and the slightly flustered atmosphere in the newspaper office also became more stable.

Two days later, a horizontal plaque written and printed by the emperor himself was sent to the newspaper office by Wang Chengen. After Zhu Zhiyu and others bowed down, the horizontal plaque was hung upright above the gate of the newspaper office. As soon as the news spread, All objections ceased abruptly.

There are four powerful characters written on the horizontal plaque: Conscience of the World.The signal revealed by these four words is enough to quell all opposition.

After learning from Jinyiwei that Wu Weiye had brought Xiuzhi's family to the house and was seeking medical treatment for Sun Cheng, Zhu Youjian wrote this plaque without hesitation.

This is not only a kind of support and affirmation, but also a kind of spur and encouragement.Zhu Youjian believes that everyone in the newspaper will understand and understand his intentions: use conscience and conscience as the bow, and objectivity and truth as the arrow, so that we can be invincible, and this must be passed down as the purpose of the newspaper.

In order to maintain the fairness of public opinion supervision, the newspaper office must exist in a unique form. It must not only have a strong ability to resist external pressure, but also uphold a conscience that will not arbitrarily fabricate facts driven by interests. The middle scale is indeed not good. Master it, this double-edged sword can hurt both others and yourself.

Not long after this minor turmoil subsided, in November of the 18th year of Chongzhen, special envoys from the Portuguese government and the Spanish government arrived in the capital successively. Zheng Zhifeng, Minister of Honglu Temple, also held talks with the special envoys of the two countries.

After taking over the arms that were half-sold and half-gifted by Ming Dynasty, taking advantage of the fact that the Spanish elite army was defeated in Manila and the military strength was extremely empty, the Portuguese army crossed the border with Spain and tentatively advanced to the south and east respectively. For more than 100 miles, this piece of territory has been included in the bag. Now the Portuguese side is digesting the fruits of victory, and the army is also actively preparing for war, preparing to deal with the revenge of the Spanish army.

Now the news of the Spanish army's disastrous defeat in Manila has spread throughout Europe. While shocked by the strength of the Ming Dynasty's army, European countries are also in awe of the Ming Dynasty. Facing the olive branch from the Ming Dynasty, the top leaders of the Portuguese government have nothing to do with it. He hesitated to take it.

Portugal is willing to become Daming's partner in Europe and allow Daming silver coins to become the currency in the domestic market; Portugal is willing to continue to purchase Daming armaments and other commodities, and to give preferential treatment in terms of tariffs; Portugal is willing to cooperate with Daming in more fields Carry out all-round cooperation to promote the traditional friendly relationship between the two countries to a new level.

In addition, the Portuguese envoy also brought a message.

(End of this chapter)