Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 829 Fundamental changes in the administration of officials after the death of Tiren

On the fifth day of September in the 22nd year of Chongzhen, Wen Tiren, the former chief assistant of the cabinet, a scholar of Wenhuadian University, and the prince Taifu, died of illness at his home in Huzhou. The decree stopped the court for three days to express condolences.

A few days after explaining his future life to Wen Yan, Wen Tiren's condition deteriorated rapidly. Complications were induced by the disease, and the final treatment was ineffective. He passed away at the age of 76 at the age of [-].

Before dying, Wen Tiren could not speak, but there seemed to be some expectation in the cloudy eyes that looked at the two imperial doctors. Fang Weixin, who had already been ordered by Zhu Youjian, leaned over and whispered four words in his ear: " After enjoying the Taimiao", Wen Tiren showed a relieved expression on his face, and swallowed his last breath with a smile.

On September [-]th, Zhu Youjian decreed: Li Xiao, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, led his staff to Wen's family in Huzhou to express condolences, and the funeral silver was [-] silver coins; Huangming Weekly published the obituary in a prominent position and his life; Posthumously granted the rank of Shishi, Rong Guogong, posthumously named Wenzhong, and will be entitled to the Taimiao after a hundred years of the emperor.

In view of the complicated and trivial work of immigration, it is difficult for those who are not familiar with the details to be competent, so Wen Kan, the magistrate of Xiangyang, took the opportunity to stay in the post and allowed him to mourn for ten days in the yamen's house.

After the news of the former Chief Assistant's death came out, there was a lot of controversy in the court about what kind of posthumous title Wen Tiren should enjoy after death, and whether he is eligible to be entitled to the Taimiao.

Many court officials believe that since Wen Tiren entered the cabinet and held the position of head and assistant for more than ten years, he used to take it as his duty to flatter his superiors, and was "a man who is cautious on the outside but fierce on the inside, and his secrets are deeply piercing."

Tiren is an enemy of the officials for power, ignores the immediate external troubles for personal grievances, does everything for revenge, and only knows how to tell right and wrong all day long. He is a mediocre official who harms the country and the people. is not eligible.

Because Wen Tiren has made too many enemies for many years in power, the public opinion in the court is basically inclined to the above-mentioned remarks. And so on, there are also vague indications that giving a general posthumous title is enough.

The cabinet ministers who agree with the posthumous posthumous posthumous title are Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng. The two important ministers uphold the public spirit and made a fair evaluation of Wen Tiren on the whole. The opponents are mainly Yang Sichang and Li Banghua. He has been working in the local area and has nothing to do with Wen Tiren, so in this matter he chose the attitude of having nothing to do with himself.

While there were endless disputes in the court, the imperial decree regarding Wen Tiren's funeral was quickly issued from the palace, and all the debates came to an abrupt end.

Everyone suddenly came to their senses: the current emperor has been adhering to the arbitrary style of Gan Gang, and is not driven by the pressure of external public opinion at all. If he wants to force the emperor to make concessions on a certain matter through raging public opinion, it is basically impossible up.

Wen Zhong, this is the posthumous posthumous title second only to Wen Zheng, Wen Zhen, and Wen Cheng. Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi, great masters in the former Song Dynasty, were given the posthumous title of Wen Zhong after their death. In this dynasty, several famous officials such as Yang Tinghe and Zhang Juzheng enjoyed this posthumous posthumous title. , which shows the status of the late former chief assistant in the emperor's heart.

The reason why Zhu Youjian gave Wen Tiren such a beautiful posthumous title was because he valued his "loyalty".

Human nature has all kinds of shortcomings and dark sides. It is not groundless that Wen Tiren's reputation is not good, but the addition of these shortcomings is resolved by the word "loyalty".

Of course, "loyalty" without interest is absolutely impossible.

Everyone has their own interest demands, and only when these demands can be fully satisfied, the loyalty value of others to you will be in a full state.

Whether it is to substantially increase the salaries of officials, to break the status restrictions, to promote talents regardless of style, or to attract high-ranking officials with stable bonuses, it is precisely this set of measures that all beneficiaries will show never before to the royal family. There has been loyalty and obedience.

Zhu Youjian once repeatedly emphasized these contents in his daily conversations with Zhu Cihong. This is the most realistic and reliable way to be a king. If his descendants all uphold this principle, it will be difficult for Ming Dynasty to collapse.

Another point is that there is no opposite relationship between being close to the people and maintaining integrity. If you have enough food and clothing, you will know honor and disgrace, and you will know etiquette if you have a solid storehouse. These two sentences are very appropriate for the common people, and they are also applicable to officials.

When the vast majority of people in the entire society have no worries about food and clothing, and no longer have to worry about tomorrow's livelihood every day, the ugliness will naturally diminish, and virtue will become the main theme.

Since the officials can live a high-class life without exploiting and corrupting ink, I believe that most of them will not deliberately make things difficult for these ordinary people.

The ugliness of human nature happens most of the time because of greed.

If an official in the yamen, after enjoying a high salary, would he use his power to ask a commoner for ten copper coins?

If Yu Shi and Jin Yi found out, for the ten pennies, his entire job would be ruined.

As long as a normal person will make the right choice.

Can't do it at all.

How much money can you extract from ordinary people?

This is not an idealist's fantasy. This is the status quo of the relationship between the government and the people that is very common in most areas of Ming Dynasty today.

Corvée has been completely abolished long ago, and the tax on farmers' fields has been reduced to [-]%, which has greatly reduced the space for officials to seek rent.

People no longer have to worry about being assigned by the government to serve in a certain place for three months. Under the new regulations of the imperial court, all projects that require labor must be paid.

For example, due to continuous torrential rains, one part of the city wall of Haizhou collapsed due to soaking in rainwater and needed manual repairs.

Eight years before Chongzhen, the Haizhou government would issue notices and instructions, requiring the following counties to confiscate how many farmers to come to make repairs, and how many days the requisitioned farmers must bring their own dry food, tools, bricks, sacks, etc. .

Even if it is the season when the farmland is very busy, a farmer with a certain surname has only one strong laborer, but unfortunately, the only hope in the family is drawn to free labor. I don’t know how many days I will serve, and I have to bring at least one month’s labor. rations.

What does this mean for an already poor family?
Basically, it's almost like the sky is falling.

The grain that is about to mature in the field is not harvested, but the summer tax has to be paid later. In the situation where the pot can't be opened, they are forced to bring a ration that can last a month for a strong laborer. What about the old and weak women and children left in the family? manage?
Wait to die.

No one cares about their life or death.

Strictly speaking, the corvee system hurts the common people far more than paying taxes.

(End of this chapter)