Call of Heroes: A History Only I Know

Chapter 204 How to let the imperial power go to the countryside?The first in Jiangnan? ! (seeking subscription)
If the imperial power cannot be brought down to the countryside and managed down to the township level, then no matter what policy it is, it will be difficult to implement it.

For example, the literacy private school that Su Che currently promotes is very good at the county level, but it is very difficult to implement it in the countryside. Even if it is free literacy, the court pays for it, but it is still a bit thankless. the meaning of.

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

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

The question is - how to change?
In order to control the village level, Zhu Yuanzhang's response method is to organize households to Qimin, Baojia policy, and each village has a person in charge.

But even so, it only makes the collection of finances much easier.

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

In fact, for ancient rulers, this was enough.

Finance is the lifeblood of the imperial court. Other things are trivial. After all, it has been like this since ancient times, and it is difficult for big guys to pursue too much.

But Su Che is different, he has more things to do, so naturally he won't be satisfied with just this.

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

Facing these entrenched country gentry elders, Su Che thought for a long time, and finally endured it. If he used the butcher's knife to kill him for a long time, it would certainly shock him for a while, but it would not last long. He couldn't keep killing him, right?
Therefore, it is still necessary to change to another solution.

But for a while, Su Che didn't have a better solution.

He didn't continue to think that a person's power has a limit, and so does his brain. Although the geniuses of this era are limited by the times, it doesn't mean that they are not smart enough. In fact, the opposite is true.

Su Che immediately summoned the cabinet members to discuss matters.

Soon, cabinet members, including Prince Zhu Biao, came to the meeting hall.

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

When the cabinet ministers heard this question, they couldn't help but look at each other. After a brief silence, everyone started to discuss. Now that they have reached the power center of the cabinet ministers, it is impossible to turn around and take care of the so-called Confucianism.

Everyone discussed it, and really gave a lot of reliable suggestions.

First of all, the power of state and county government offices can be directly used.

The county yamen often went to the townships and villages under it to urge conscripts, sometimes led teams to arrest bandits, sometimes mediated village and clan disputes, and stopped fighting. They still had a lot of influence in the local area.

Relying on the influence of the county yamen, they set up permanent offices in towns and towns, established a corresponding rights system, and were responsible for promoting the orders of the imperial court.

If it has reached this level, those localities are still unwilling to cooperate, or even openly resist the local permanent officials, that is to confront the imperial court.

In a word, we still need to find an excuse to attack the local evil forces. If the other party blatantly attacks the court officials, it is an intention to rebel. To suppress the rebellious family, we only need a list!

Except for this proposal.

There were also different opinions.

Set up more inspection departments in the county yamen, give the localities enough force, and let the localities form the concept of "Zero Miscellaneous Defense", that is, the county magistrate, patrol inspector, chief book, etc., each manages an area, through Zaza is under the jurisdiction of the sub-districts below the county, thus forming a county under the imperial power.

But in this way, corresponding problems will also arise, that is, the already bloated local official system will become even more bloated, which will bring a lot of trouble to the subsequent government order system.

But many times things are like this, there are positives and negatives, there are advantages and disadvantages, this is unavoidable.

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

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 huge.

but.

There are also cabinet ministers who put forward the opposite opinion. He thinks that instead of guarding against those gentry clans, it is better to draw them together and use their strength to achieve their goals.

This is a very different line of thought.

It is possible to set up a public bureau, win over the gentry and wealthy families, and let the court's hand go deep into towns, townships and villages.

The minister explained the so-called public bureau.

It is to let the gentry and aristocratic families in those rural towns form together, let them nominate leading gentry internally, and then be recognized and appointed by the state and county magistrates, and these people form an institution such as the Public Bureau to manage local affairs.

The document exchanges and meeting etiquette between state and county officials and the public bureau basically follow the practices of the upper and lower government offices.

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

Once the imperial court issues any decree, let these gentry be responsible for promoting it. If it is done well, it will be a political achievement and can continue to be promoted.

This is quite attractive to those country gentry and wealthy families.

Zhu Yuanzhang's policy of making all households equal to the people and Baojia policy is difficult to operate sustainably and effectively, because although Baojia is legal and has a fixed staff of dibao, the dibao are common people and have limited authority at the local level.

In addition, Baojia did not have a stable source of funds, nor did it have direct control of armed personnel, so the task of land protection was mainly to run errands, and it was difficult to completely control the countryside through this system.

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

In addition, the Public Bureau also has armed personnel such as Tuanlian, Genenglian, and Juding...

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

Su Che frowned when he heard the many plans discussed by the cabinet ministers. It was difficult to choose among these several plans.

If you don't rely on the squires, but only rely on the county government, it will take a lot of effort to implement this matter perfectly.

If you rely on the local gentry, this matter can be easily resolved.

But the problem is,

Giving power to these people is tantamount to quenching thirst with poison, and there will be endless troubles!
Su Che thought for a while, and finally chose the most stupid method.

Relying on the influence of the county yamen, set up permanent stations in towns and towns, establish a corresponding rights system, and be responsible for promoting the orders of the imperial court!

Take back the power and influence of the village from those gentry!

At the same time, more inspection departments have been set up in the county to give the local area enough force to form a "separate defense" in the local area.

But in this way, the cost will be too high.

But as long as things can be done, no matter what the price is, it is worth it.

As the meeting ended, the cabinet ministers left the meeting hall, in twos and threes, they couldn't help discussing: "Why doesn't your majesty agree to use the power of those gentry?"

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

"Doing this will strengthen the power of the country gentry. Your majesty is from a reckless background, and he probably knows better than anyone else that these country gentry are unreliable. Therefore, he would rather stay close and seek far away than rely on the power of those country gentry."

"Well, there are some things, there are gains and losses. If you rely on these squires to increase their power, the consequences will be disastrous! Your Majesty, you are thinking far and wide."

At the same time, in the meeting hall.

Prince Zhu Biao did not leave with the courtiers, but stayed here.

The father and son are discussing another matter - open up roads, use work as relief, build roads from villages to towns, and then build roads from towns to county towns, completely repair the roads, and let some of the 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 waste of time and money.

Su Che's plan is to use the continuous printing of precious money to hire warriors from villages, towns, and even counties to help build roads.

But Zhu Biao's idea is that no wages are needed, as long as he buys spiritual rice with precious money and provides enough spiritual food, those low-level warriors will naturally go to help build roads.

If you pay treasure bills directly as wages, some officials will inevitably deduct the intermediate links, but if you don’t spend money and only provide materials, the deductions will be greatly reduced.

Of course, it is only a reduction, there is no way to completely avoid it.

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

Zhu Biao's suggestion is quite good. Even in the early Ming Dynasty, it was still not easy for the low-level wrestlers to have a full meal. Those spiritual rice were expensive, and ordinary farmers were reluctant to eat them at all. food to fill the stomach.

Su Che nodded, thinking that Zhu Biao had considered 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 up the road. These ideas were very appropriate, and even Su Che couldn't find any faults. He nodded involuntarily, thinking in his heart, No wonder Zhu Yuanzhang likes his eldest son so much. His abilities are indeed good.

After the two discussed it, the matter was settled.

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

In Zhu Biao's view, the person in charge of this matter must do his part.

But Su Che thought about it, and shook his head, feeling that it was not appropriate.

If the road construction is completed, it will definitely be a great achievement, but on the contrary, there will be quite a lot of people offended. As the prince, Zhu Biao does not need to do it himself, he just needs to sit firmly on the Diaoyutai and preside over the overall situation behind him. , This is what a person in power should do.

No matter how well the people below do, it is ultimately the credit of the leaders above. If the people below do not do well, it is natural that the people below will take the blame. This is the so-called leadership art.

However, Prince Zhu Biao obviously did not agree with this view. Although he also understood his father's thoughts, he also had his own persistence.

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

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

Although Yiwen Prince Zhu Biao is good enough, it also depends on who he is in front of. In front of an eternal emperor like Lao Zhu, it is not enough to look at at all.

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

Even if old Zhu had unconditional trust in Zhu Biao, and had filled his prince team, his power had already surpassed the limit of a prince, but the more so, Zhu Biao became more cautious, for fear of disappointing his father.

It is precisely this kind of mood that makes Yiwen Prince Zhu Biao eager to make a career of his own. Before that, he wanted to preside over the reform of the new coup d'etat 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 froze. He frowned, thought for a moment, and finally nodded.

Su Che seriously warned: "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 our backing, no one in this world can touch you !!"

Hearing what his father said, Zhu Biao was immediately moved, and said quickly, "Thank you for your success, my child will not disappoint my father!"

Su Che didn't say anything, but just patted Zhu Biao's shoulder, everything was in the air!
Soon, the terrifying machine of the Ming court began to operate at high speed again.

……

Jinhua Pujiang, Zhengzhai Town.

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

Zheng Qi, the ancestor of the Zheng family, was kind and friendly in nature, filial to his relatives, and regarded "self-cultivation, family harmony, and world peace" as his lofty ideal.

When he was dying, he ordered his children and grandchildren to live together without separating the family. As a result, the Zheng family has lived together for hundreds of years, and more than [-] people share the same wealth and food!

Zhu Yuanzhang even bestowed upon it the first one in the south of the Yangtze River!
At this moment, several "uninvited guests" appeared in Zheng Zhai Town, they were the latest township officials appointed by the imperial court.

When these new faces entered Zhengzhai Town, they naturally attracted a lot of attention. Many people gathered around and asked them why they came to Zhengzhai Town.
A middle-aged man in a Confucian shirt named Yan Shitong said with a smile: "I am the clerk of Zhengzhai Town appointed by the imperial court. If you have anything to do in the future, just come to me directly. There is no need for the local gentry to come to you." Help with adjustments."

As soon as these words came out, everyone immediately looked at each other in blank dismay. Since ancient times, the Zheng family has been in charge of the affairs of Zheng Zhai Town, but now, the sky is about to change?

There were members of the Zheng family in the crowd, and they hurried back to report to the Patriarch.

At this time, the head of the Zheng family was Zheng Zhu. After hearing the report from his subordinates, he couldn't help frowning, and murmured: "I have heard about this for a long time. The imperial court intends to strengthen the influence of the local area. I didn't expect Come down so soon..."

Then he raised his head and said dismissively:

"They want the township office, so let them do it. Doesn't our Zheng family still have the right to hold on to this bit of sesame seed?"

"Since His Majesty named us the first in the south of the Yangtze River, then we must set an example for the first in the south of the Yangtze River!"

"Let them do it themselves!"

Obviously, Zheng Zhu didn't take this small office seriously at all. The Zheng family is so huge, how can they move him?

However, not long after, another news came. Yan Shitong of the office received an anonymous letter, saying that the Zheng family occupied more than [-] mu of Lingtian, and it was basically a coincidence. According to the investigation, this matter is true!

The office ordered the Zheng family to return the [-] mu of spiritual land! !
(End of this chapter)