Tibet.

Chapter 1460: Indirect Persuasion
Dugu Ming originally wanted to go to Quanzhou in a low profile, but unexpectedly he alarmed the emperor. Not only did the emperor come, but the queen also came, and of course his own daughter.

Fortunately, the emperor came in a low profile and did not alarm the neighbors and government officials. Dugu Ming quickly invited the emperor and the queen to the inner house.

The family sat down in the inner hall, and Dugu Xinyue advised: "Uncle, why don't you let the younger generation of the family go to Quanzhou? Uncle is old and in poor health. He should recuperate in Changjing!"

Dugu Ming waved his hands and smiled, "I have never had any problems with my health. Poor health is just an excuse for not wanting to enter the government. I have been taking care of myself for more than 20 years. Let me exercise in the last few years! Otherwise, I will really accomplish nothing in my life."

Princess Xincheng beside her also smiled and said, "Mingyue, just let your uncle go! Otherwise he will always complain that I delayed him, and he will always have a knot in his heart."

Dugu Ming looked at her husband again, and Li Ye nodded, "Quanzhou is not bad, Third Uncle should have been there."

Dugu Taiwei was surprised and asked, "Dad has been to Quanzhou, how come I didn't know about it?"

Dugu Ming smiled slightly and said, "That was many years ago, before you were born. Your grandfather asked me to go and manage the business in Quanzhou. At that time, the Dugu family had just established a business in Quanzhou, so I went there and stayed there for a year. Except for my skin being a little darker due to the sea breeze, there was no other change."

Dugu Ming said this, and the Dugu sisters felt relieved. Dugu Taiwei asked her mother again, "Are you going too?"

"Of course we should go together. Your mother has never seen the sea in her life!"

Li Ye also smiled and said, "It's different now than before. We can travel by water all the way, transfer to a large ship with a capacity of 10,000 tons after arriving in Xiangyang, and go all the way to Quanzhou. It's very stable and comfortable, and we won't feel tired from the journey."

"So you sisters don't have to worry, just go and talk to your mother!"

The Dugu sisters followed Princess Xincheng to the villa, leaving only Dugu Ming and Li Ye in the inner hall.

Dugu Ming smiled and said, "I had dinner and chatted with Minister Liu yesterday. He said that the court is preparing to reform the local administration. My dear son-in-law, the interests of local wealthy families are intertwined and they are fighting fiercely. The court is intervening strongly. I suggest that we should have a strategy and proceed step by step. In fact, local officials also support the court's reform. County officials are also constrained by local wealthy families and it is difficult for them to do anything. If the official level can be appointed by the court, local county officials will also support the court."

"Thank you for the reminder, father-in-law. I plan to use the abolition order to weaken the local wealthy families. After weakening them, I will organize a first-level clerk examination and finally redistribute them."

Dugu Ming nodded. "The abolition order is a sharp weapon that has gradually gained popularity. It is a good idea to use it to strike down the powerful. In addition, I will give you two more suggestions. Of course, it is up to you whether you listen to them or not."

"Father-in-law, please speak!"

Dugu Ming said slowly: "The first suggestion is that I suggest that my son-in-law should not strike too widely. After all, the local wealthy families are the foundation of the court. They are the weights that stabilize the Tang Dynasty. If they are not there, and we only rely on ordinary people, the world will be in chaos. A rumor can cause chaos in the whole county.

In fact, there are not many truly powerful families, and most of them are ordinary wealthy families who work hard to cultivate their children to bring honor to their ancestors. If we can kill one to warn the rest, and then publicize it, these local wealthy families will be afraid and will no longer confront the court. "

"My father-in-law has a point. I will consider it. Then what?"

"Then we should strengthen the power of the prefecture level and put all our trust in the imperial court. The imperial court is really unable to do so and is far away from us. If we let the civil servants be managed by the prefecture level, it will be much easier."

"I understand. I will consider my father-in-law's two suggestions carefully."

Li Ye smiled again and said, "I know that you are worried that Dugu Jun will seize power. Don't worry, the king's appointment is in my hands. I hope you can stay in Quanzhou for a year or two before going to the island. Pepper is a good thing. It can expel the dampness and heat accumulated in the body. Eat more pepper on the island and grind it into powder and put it in the broth."

Dugu Ming smiled happily and said, "Really? I'll go to Quanzhou and give it a try."

When the time was almost up, Li Ye took his two wives to say goodbye. Dugu Taiwei bid farewell to her parents in tears and got on the car to return to Daming Palace. Back in the imperial study, Li Ye ordered people to find the right prime minister Wei Jiansu, and soon Wei Jiansu hurried over.

"See Your Majesty!"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said, "This morning, Dugu Guozhang gave me two suggestions. Prime Minister Wei, please give them to me for reference!"

Li Ye then repeated Dugu Ming's two suggestions. Wei Jiansu pondered for a moment and asked with a smile, "What is your Majesty's opinion?"

"I think the first one is more pertinent, but the second one is worth discussing."

Wei Jiansu bowed and said, "The first point of Dugu Guozhang speaks for what I am thinking. The wealthy families in each county are the cornerstone of the Tang Dynasty. It is necessary to strictly order them to abide by the law, but we cannot let the inner guards rush into their homes and destroy them.

Your Majesty, any reform is a long process. It is necessary to balance the interests of all parties and proceed step by step. It must not be done in a whirlwind way, which will only cause destruction. Slaves are bought legally with money, which involves everyone's vital interests. I think that instead of cracking down on the wealthy and powerful, it is better for Your Majesty to severely crack down on the slave trade and hang all the slave traders. First, put an end to the slave trade, and then solve the problem of slave stocks. "

"Is there any way to solve the slave stock problem?" Li Ye asked.

Wei Jiansu nodded, "We can levy a slave tax. For example, if the government determines that a certain wealthy family has fifty slaves, we can levy a slave tax of fifty strings of cash every year. Naturally, the wealthy family will stop using slaves, and the loss will outweigh the gain. This is much milder and can prevent the inner guards from raiding the family's home and destroying the family."

Li Ye had calmed down and nodded, "The Prime Minister is right. It is not wise to violently confiscate property. Imposing a slave tax is a good idea."

"In addition, regarding the local civil service reform, I agree with Dugu Ming's idea. Killing one person to warn the rest is a good idea. We can use the Tang Dynasty's weekly magazine to widely publicize it and conduct examinations in various places first. We can be more pragmatic. As long as you come to take the exam, we will admit you and then officially become a court official and assign you to other counties. Those who do not come to take the exam will be dismissed and we will directly send new officials. At this time, if anyone dares to cause trouble, the inner guards can take action. This way, the violence of the inner guards can be reduced to a minimum. We must give everyone a chance."

Li Ye was deeply touched by Wei Jiansu's earnest persuasion. This is what a prime minister should do. When the emperor has wrong ideas, the prime minister should not insist on it. He should wait until the world calms down and then persuade him in a roundabout way. Then the emperor will realize his mistakes.

Li Ye also realized at this time that expanding the recruitment of internal guards and dividing them into 1,500 groups was indeed a very dangerous idea. It would inevitably cause a large number of local wealthy families to be broken up and destroy his own ruling foundation.

Li Ye nodded, "I will adopt the Prime Minister's suggestion and conduct the civil service examination first. No! First publicize it so that everyone knows what to test, and then conduct the ability test. I will not test the Four Books and Five Classics. I want to test how to collect taxes, how to check the population, how to maintain public order, how to run schools, etc. It must be practical and combined with what they usually do, and use specific cases to test their problem-solving ability."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Wei Jiansu was also sincerely happy that the emperor was finally persuaded by him.

"What about Dugu Guozhang's second idea? It's about the establishment of the first level of Dao."

Wei Jiansu thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, this is a big problem. Currently, each prefecture has three powers: supervision, transportation, and criminal law inspection. If we give them clerk power, financial power, and administrative power, I think it will hollow out the prefecture government and even the court. I suggest maintaining the status quo and handing over the management power of the clerk level to the prefecture government."

In fact, Li Ye was not in favor of expanding the power of the Dao level. Dao was equivalent to the province in later generations. But after all, there were more than one billion people in later generations, while there were only tens of millions in the Tang Dynasty. There were prefectures and counties, provinces, officials, and clerks. The bureaucracy was really too huge.

He even considered abolishing the Dao level. The key was that transportation had to keep up. It would be much easier for the court to govern the states, and there would be no need for the Dao to exist.

And Wei Jiansu was right. Once the power of the prefecture was expanded, for example, it would undermine the state level and the imperial court, which would be detrimental to the implementation of centralization.

Therefore, he did not intend to adopt Dugu Ming's suggestion.

Li Ye said, "I'll ask Prime Minister Wei to preside over the political affairs hall to arrange the publicity and civil servant examinations. The slave tax should also be introduced as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)