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Chapter 811 Emerging
"Well, farming is a good idea! The land over there is fertile and there is no shortage of water, so we should really grow crops and vegetables. There is another benefit after teaching them, which is that it is easier to control them. Farmers are always more obedient than hunters.

Let's do it this way. You must tell your subordinates not to bully or cheat others in daily contact, and not to be too weak. The natives are very satisfied and greedy, so you must know the limits.

Inform the Dutch in Batavia that they can deliver goods to Enniao Port starting next month. Let Sun Moon Bank negotiate the price, and sign the contract as carefully as possible, so that I won't have to clean up the mess later!"

The plan of the Navy General Staff was perfect overall, but lacked details. It was not their fault. Without colonial experience, some things would not come up out of thin air. It didn't matter. I was still there. I could follow behind and fill in the gaps.

As long as the military base at the Cape of Good Hope is firmly established, the Europeans should not launch a large-scale attack too soon given their current state. A few small-scale ships would be equivalent to giving them away for free, and they could shift most of their energy to the domestic and northern regions.

The first to take action was the Ministry of Justice. In early November, the "New Ming Code", which had been revised for almost two years, was finally released. The emperor convened a grand court meeting to announce it publicly, and issued an edict to the two capitals and thirteen provinces to abolish the "Ming Code" and use the "New Ming Code" starting from the 11th year of Jingyang.

This news hardly caused any sensation in the government or the public, mainly because it was delayed for too long and the discussions took too many times, so there were no longer many secrets.

The ones who are probably the least able to adapt and the least willing to change are the lawyers and advisors in various places. The old laws that they had already memorized have been abolished, and they have to memorize new ones all over again. Those who are a little older may not be able to handle it.

In fact, the younger ones are not necessarily much better. The new law is no more than 700% similar to the old one, and there are more than new articles. It is useless to just memorize it, you have to understand it and find loopholes in it to be considered smarter than others.

Perhaps because he saw that no one stood up to oppose the promulgation of the new law, the emperor gained confidence. In less than half a month, he announced the second major event, implementing the new policy in the three provinces of Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi.

Shandong Governor Zhou Daodeng was promoted to Governor-General of Three Provinces, granted the title of Prince's Junior Tutor, and ordered to lead the promotion of the new policies in the three provinces, with his capital in Xi'an.

Li Qiyuan, the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief and Governor of Shaanxi, was transferred to the Left Provincial Governor of Shaanxi; Yuan Chonghuan, the Left Councillor of Fujian, was transferred to the Right Provincial Governor of Henan; Miao Changqi, the Left Councillor of Guangdong, was transferred to the Right Provincial Governor of Shanxi; Yao Guangshan, the Right Councillor of Guangdong, was transferred to the Right Provincial Governor of Shandong.

Zhou Daodeng was the governor of Shandong Province and had made remarkable achievements in the past few years. It was not surprising that he was appointed as the governor of three provinces. In addition to supervision, this position was mainly about coordination, which was very suitable for his smooth personality and changeable skills.

Zhang Si, the former Left Governor of Shanxi, died last year, and the emperor has not replaced him. This must be because he had other intentions. Li Qiyuan, the governor of Shaanxi, has done a lot of work on the issue of building an oil refinery in Yan'an Prefecture. Although he is not a core member of the royalist faction, he must be a firm supporter of the new policy. It is reasonable for him to take over.

Yuan Chonghuan and Miao Changqi were both Jinshi in the Jiayin year of the tenth year of Jingyang. They had been trained in the county government for two years and had been familiar with the senators in Guangdong and Fujian for three years. At first glance, they were standard reserve forces for the new policy, which was just right for them at this time and their expertise was also suitable.

The current Henan Left Governor Niu Yingyuan and Shanxi Left Governor Chen Yuting are both still conscientious in their duties, tend to listen to the emperor, and have not made any mistakes. They are not particularly old, so it is not appropriate to replace them directly. Serving them as deputies can both supervise and take over, which is a normal operation.

Only Yao Guangshan, the Right Councillor of Guangdong, was an outlier. He was neither a Jinshi nor a Juren, and he had not even passed the Xiucai exam. He was a pure layman, and he was particularly young, only 25 years old this year. In the Ming Dynasty, if you were not a royal relative and wanted to become an official, especially a civil servant, there were usually only three ways. The first was the imperial examination, starting from Tongsheng and going up one level at a time, and at the very least you had to get Juren to be qualified to be an official.

Second, the Imperial Academy students. The students who are excellent in both moral character and academic performance or the children of nobles are selected to study in the Imperial Academy. After passing the internal examination, they can also obtain the qualifications to become officials, but they cannot hold certain positions.

The third is recommendation, also known as recommendation of filial and honest officials. This is easier to understand, and is recommended by officials. For example, if a very special talent is found under the rule, it can be recommended to the court according to certain procedures and promoted to an official.

After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the system of selecting filial and honest people basically became a decoration. Although there were students who passed the imperial examination, their status was lower than that of the imperial examination. Once they were promoted to a certain position, their status would be capped. It could only be regarded as a welfare for the children of officials and nobles.

It was because Yao Guangshan was recommended as a filial and incorruptible official that he was promoted from a minor clerk in a county government office in Zhaoqing Prefecture, Guangdong, to a county magistrate, and then he was promoted step by step to the position of Right Councillor of the fourth rank.

So what virtue and ability did he have to go from a minor official to a frontier official in just eight years without any obstacles? Three words: Haihusi.

Yao Guangshan was born in Haihusi, and was the first child in the family! He was the first orphan to be adopted when Matteo Ricci was preparing the Temple of Europe in the imperial farm outside the North Palace Gate. He was only 7 years old at that time.

Seven years later, he was also among the first batch of graduates from the Haihu Division, but he did not join the navy. Instead, he and more than a dozen of his younger classmates were arranged to work as minor clerks in county governments in Guangdong and Fujian, specializing in promoting the new policies.

It is not easy to promote the new policy just by relying on Li Zhi, Yuan Yingtai and others to exert pressure at the top level. It is easy for local officials to shirk responsibility and delay the implementation. Yao Guangshan and other members of the Haihu Division are the hands and eyes who are responsible for the implementation and supervision at the bottom level. Only when the top and the bottom work together can a breakthrough be found.

But Hong Tao thought further. He not only wanted these young people to help the new policies, but also to train them to become the pillars of the Ming Dynasty. Going to various places to be a minor official was just an internship to understand the people's sentiments and become familiar with the operation of the officialdom. When they were older, more mature, and more experienced, they would step into the limelight.

But being a clerk and being an official are two completely different things. In order to get these children official positions, Hong Tao racked his brains. As the saying goes, it is not the thief who steals that you are afraid of, but the thief who thinks about it. He really found a way, which is to recommend filial and honest people.

This policy, originally used by Zhu Yuanzhang to win over the gentry and landlord class, has not been used for a long time, but it has not been abolished. So let's use it. You guys are always willing to mention the ancestral system, so let's go along with it and see who dares to oppose it. That was advocated by the founding emperor, and whoever opposes it is a traitor!
No one recommended? Impossible. When Li Zhi and Yuan Yingtai were in power, they had to recommend several people every year. As long as they were recommended, the emperor would approve it! When Shandong and Zhili were also included in the new policy, there would be more minor officials to be arranged and more officials to be recommended.

Up to now, there are at least 300 graduates of Haihusi working in county and prefectural governments in seven or eight provinces. A small number of them have obtained official positions through recommendations, and the one with the highest rank is Yao Guangshan.

(End of this chapter)