The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 161 We were also a beggar back then

Chen Jingke said: "The gentry are formed by scholars who have achieved fame, or more accurately, they are formed by ordinary scholars."

"During the Tang Dynasty, learning was in the hands of the gentry and wealthy families."

"The term "poor family" at that time did not refer to poor people, but to local wealthy families who had not obtained the status of nobles."

"Real ordinary people have almost no chance to study."

"Nine out of ten candidates admitted to the imperial examination are children of wealthy families, and few are truly ordinary people."

"When the Song Dynasty was established, academies as a teaching model emerged, private schools flourished in an all-round way, and knowledge began to become popular... Ordinary people had books to read."

"And because Huang Chao and Zhu Wen killed every one of the nobles, leaving a large power void."

"It created conditions for the great development of the imperial examination, and ordinary scholars could also pass the imperial examination and become officials."

"It was during this period that the gentry group began to grow."

"And he quickly colluded with local clan forces and took control of power below the county level, making it impossible for the court's power to get involved."

"Wang Anshi's reform includes the content of the Baojia system."

"I don't know if he has ever thought about using this to attack the power of the gentry clan."

"But his reforms actually extended the court's hand to the countryside."

"This move violated the interests of the gentry clan. Naturally, these people were unwilling to do so, so they took the lead in resisting the reform."

"It can be said that they played a crucial role in the failure of Wang Anshi's reform."

Zhu Xiongying couldn't help but nodded and said: "I see, I didn't expect the involvement here to be so deep."

"Then what should we do? Follow the example of the Tang Dynasty and break up the surnames and mix them together?"

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said, "No, if we use this method, the world will immediately fall into chaos."

In the past, knowledge was in the hands of the nobles, and most of the people were illiterate, with limited knowledge and abilities.

Under the joint attack of the imperial court and the nobles, there was no chance of counterattack.

It's different now. Knowledge is widespread and there are scholars everywhere among the people.

The power of the gentry clan has been formed, and it is no longer possible to eliminate them.

Zhu Xiongying also had a headache and said, "What should we do? Do we need to re-establish the township government office?"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "Yes, it is to re-establish the township government and use township officials to restrain the gentry clan."

Zhu Xiongying was not optimistic: "The gentry clan is so powerful that even the imperial court cannot penetrate deeply."

"What can a few officials in one yamen accomplish?"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and asked: "Who said that the power of the imperial court cannot penetrate into the people?"

"If we can't go deep, how can we place 20 military households among the people in Luoyang?"

Chen Jingke explained: "The imperial court has the strength to intervene, but due to the lack of support, this interference cannot be sustained for a long time."

"If yamen are established at the township level, there will be a support point, and the imperial court can maintain continuous influence on the countryside."

Zhu Xiongying was still a little confused: "What if the township officials colluded with the local gentry clan."

"Haha..." Chen Jingke shook his head with a smile and said:

"Do you think the county magistrate will not collude with the gentry? But he still has to listen to the court?"

"Remember what I just said, whoever the power comes from, listen to whoever it is."

"Their appointment, dismissal, and promotion all depend on the imperial court, so they must listen to the imperial court."

"Even if they collude with local gentry, they dare not disobey the court."

"Moreover, with the support of the imperial court, the township officials are in a proactive position."

"If the gentry clan in any place disobeys, the township officials can ask for help from their superiors and carry out a devastating blow to them."

"So even if there is collusion with the gentry, it is mainly rural officials."

"In this case, the imperial court can effectively ensure its control over the local area."

Zhu Xiongying's eyes lit up and he said happily: "I understand. Township officials are stronger with the support of the court."

"The gentry clan will curry favor with him, and he must listen to the court."

"Otherwise the court will remove him from his official position and he will have nothing."

"The gentry clan is headed by him, and he listens to the court."

"This means that the court can manage the gentry clan through rural officials."

Zhu Yuanzhang interjected: "Although it is not accurate, it is almost the same."

"The very existence of rural officials is to divide the power of the gentry clan."

Zhu Xiongying nodded and asked another question: "Since the township officials are dividing the power of the gentry clans, will they encounter strong opposition?"

Chen Jingke spread his hands and said, "It doesn't matter. If they object, they will directly face the attack of the entire civil service group."

"The civil servants and scholars can suppress them without the court taking action."

Zhu Xiongying said doubtfully: "Ah, why?"

Chen Jingke said: "Think about how many villages and towns there were in the Ming Dynasty. If township yamen were established, how many vacancies would be added."

“Who will fill these vacancies?”

Zhu Xiongying replied subconsciously: "Scholar..."

"I understand. If tens of thousands of vacancies are added at once, tens of thousands of scholars will be able to serve as officials."

"Whoever dares to oppose is their life and death enemy."

I heard that tens of thousands of official posts were suddenly created, and together with supporting staff, there were tens of thousands of people.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but frown. This was a huge expense.

"If the township government is established, the court will have to spend millions more on it."

Chen Jingke said: "But it's all worth it."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slowly, it was indeed worth it.

With an extra few million dollars spent every year, you can reach out to the countryside. No matter how you look at it, it is a good deal.

And once this system matures, it will probably generate more than a few million dollars in revenue for the court every year.

How can a government office generate revenue for the court?
Apart from anything else, just taxation is enough.

In the past, the imperial power did not extend to counties, and the exact number of acres of local land could not be counted.

The court also doesn’t know who is hiding their land and not paying taxes.

With the township government, this problem can be effectively solved.

Any land that has been hidden is enough to support these township officials.

Chen Jingke said: "In fact, it is possible to allocate hundreds of acres of employment land to the township government without spending a penny from the court."

“Official officials’ salaries and government funds all come from their posts.”

A few hundred acres of land set aside in a township as work farm is indeed not much.

but……

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head repeatedly: "It's too much. The annual output of hundreds of acres of land is enough for a county government."

"How can the township government give such a large salary?"

Chen Jingke was speechless. It would be better not to mention the salary during the Hongwu period.

He had wanted to talk to Zhu Yuanzhang about this for a long time, but he had never been able to find a suitable opportunity.

Now that we’ve talked about it, let’s talk about it carefully.

Don't worry about whether you can convince him or not, at least express what you mean first.

If it doesn't work once, just do it twice. If it doesn't work, you can only wait until Zhu Biao or Zhu Xiongying takes power.

"Your Majesty, is there a possibility that the salary of the township government is not too high?"

"It's that the salaries of the county government, chief, secretary, and officials, as well as all officials, are too low."

Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened and he said, "You want to say that we treat all officials harshly?"

If he had just entered the palace, Chen Jingke would have been so frightened that his legs were weak.

Now, you're used to it.

"Your Majesty, we agreed not to be angry."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "Are we angry? My dear grandson, you are judging me, are we angry?"

Zhu Xiongying nodded heavily and said, "No, why would Grandpa Huang be angry?"

"Jing Ke, please stop talking nonsense. Grandpa Huang's face suddenly turned dark and he was not angry."

Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily: "You little bastard, grandpa loves you in vain."

Then he said to Chen Jingke: "Okay, I'll give you a chance to convince me. Think about it later."

Chen Jingke said sternly: "The matter is not complicated. Your Majesty, do you think the official's salary can do more than just make ends meet?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked back: "Isn't it enough to have a full belly?" Chen Jingke said affirmatively: "It's not enough. I want to eat well and wear warm clothes. I want to eat better and wear gorgeous clothes. This is the human heart."

"Don't you, Your Majesty, also like to eat fat elbows and roast chicken?"

"I know that Your Majesty can restrain his desire and only eat once every few days."

"But you can't ask everyone to be like you, it's impossible."

"So, what should they do if they want to eat meat but find they have no money?"

"We can only reach out to the people."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with murderous intent: "Then we will kill them all. I don't believe that we can't kill them all for their greed."

Chen Jingke did not argue, but said: "The road to the imperial examination is difficult. It is extremely difficult to pass the examination, and those who can pass the imperial examination are even rarer."

"If an ordinary person wants to be an official, he needs to support his whole family, and sometimes there is no return for decades of investment."

"I'm lucky. I wasted half my life and got a chance to get an official position."

"I thought I could change my embarrassing situation and let my family enjoy the happiness with me."

"But when the imperial salary came out, I realized that I couldn't even afford meat."

(Hai Rui’s real experience is not an exaggeration.)
"Facing the longing eyes of their family members, what will they think? And what should they do?"

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent.

Chen Jingke paused for a moment before continuing:
"When you become an official, it is inevitable that you will be greeted and sent off."

"Would you like to give your mentor a gift to express your gratitude for your three birthdays?"

"There is a happy event in my colleague's family. Do you want to attend?"

"But where does the money come from?"

"You can't just sever ties with all your relatives and friends once you become an official, right?"

"In officialdom, you can't ignore your colleagues and live your own life behind closed doors, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang finally couldn't help it anymore and said: "If you increase their salary, they can control themselves and not be greedy?"

Chen Jingke shook his head and said: "High salary cannot support integrity, but too low salary will definitely encourage more people to become corrupt."

"There is a situation in Ming Dynasty now. Those corrupt officials blame their corruption on low salary."

"Therefore, they are greedy and unscrupulous."

"If their salaries are raised, they will no longer be able to use this excuse to exonerate themselves."

"When the time comes, His Majesty's reasons for killing corrupt officials will be more abundant."

Zhu Yuanzhang was silent again, because this was indeed the case.

There was even a county magistrate who openly said when he was killed:

With such a low salary, it would be impossible to survive without being greedy.

It is said that some people in the civil and military capitals of the entire dynasty were unjustly accused, but every other person was killed, and none of them died unjustly.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang said that he would investigate and deal with every one found and would never tolerate adultery.

But I know better than anyone in my heart that it is simply impossible.

The killing was so ruthless, and the Zhao Mao case still happened.

Seeing that he still didn't speak, Chen Jingke sighed and decided to change his words:
"Your Majesty, although raising salaries cannot reduce corruption, it can make the lives of officials with righteous minds easier."

After saying that, he pretended to clear his throat and coughed dryly.

Zhu Xiongying immediately answered and said, "Yes, Grandpa Huang, you have to consider good and upright officials."

"In our Ming Dynasty, we cannot allow honest and good officials to bleed and shed tears."

Chen Jingke gave him an approving look and continued:
"The military merit system has actually improved the status of generals."

"The status of military officers is too high and the civil servants are too weak, which is not conducive to the court's balancing of civil and military relations."

"Moreover, if the status of civilian officials is not correspondingly improved, I'm afraid they will also oppose military reform."

Zhu Xiongying echoed: "Yes, yes, civil servants are not stupid."

"The generals will definitely not be happy if they receive such great benefits."

"At the same time, we are raising their salaries and establishing township yamen, which is also a strengthening of civil servants."

"If we announce these measures that are beneficial to civilian officials at the same time as the military merit system is announced."

"I believe both civil and military sides will be very satisfied."

"At that time, whether it is military reform or political reform, there will be no resistance."

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be touched, but he did not agree or object. Instead, his face darkened and he said:

"You two, don't fool us by singing along, we are not Lan Yu."

"Hmph, it's not that easy to raise our salary."

"We have to think about this matter carefully. If you are fine, just get out of here."

Chen Jingke and Zhu Xiongying looked at each other and knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was shaken.

It's just that for such a big matter, he naturally can't decide it easily.

So this is how to end the topic.

And they could also guess that Lao Zhu was going to find his military adviser for help.

So, he stopped saying anything and ran away quickly.

Seeing the two people jumping up and down, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but smile even though he felt a little heavy.

So young and energetic.

However, these two guys actually wanted to join forces to convince me. If I hadn't been smart, I would have been fooled by them.

Huh, you have to be more cautious when dealing with them in the future, and you can't let them fool you.

With this thought in mind, his steps were not slow at all. He got up and went straight to Kunning Palace.

As long as you two can help each other, we don't have anyone to help us.

Hey, we have a good wife.

When he saw Queen Ma, he said with a sad and angry face: "Sister, you have to make the decision for us."

Empress Ma felt happy and said with a serious look on her face: "What's wrong? Who dares to bully you?"

"It doesn't matter if you were bullied when you were a beggar. Now that we are emperors, how can we still be bullied?"

"Tell me who it is and I'll help you vent your anger."

At this time, it was Zhu Yuanzhang's turn to lose his temper and said: "Sister, we don't like to hear what you say. When we were beggars, we were also beggars. Who dares to bully us?"

Queen Ma said seriously: "That's right. Next time it's your time to herd cattle, you will indeed be bullied."

Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily: "Can we not mention what happened at that time..."

"Haha..." Queen Ma finally couldn't help laughing, and sighed while laughing:

"Hey, you were so funny back then, you often made me laugh, but later you became so serious."

Zhu Yuanzhang sat down next to her and said, "Yes, things are different and people are different... I just thought of Tiande and Yuchun."

Queen Ma said strangely: "Okay, why do you think of them?"

Zhu Yuanzhang recounted what had just happened.

After hearing that Zhu Xiongying and Chen Jingke were cooperating to make Lan Yu play around, Queen Ma said with a smile:

"These two kids are really naughty."

"However, if I can really give birth to a son for Lan Yu, I won't be deceived this time."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "My dear grandson is as smart as us, and he will definitely be a wise king in the future."

"Jing Ke's character is a bit like Tiande. He knows how to advance and retreat when he has talent, and he doesn't fight or grab."

"What makes us most happy is that the two of them get along well with each other and will become a legend for a generation in the future."

Empress Ma nodded, then shook her head and said, "He is not as virtuous as Jing Ke. He refused to accept anyone at the beginning, but it took a lot of polishing for him to have the gentle personality he has now."

"Jing Ke seems to be born like this. He has such an amazing talent, but he doesn't have any arrogance at all."

"He gives people the impression that these talents are not worth mentioning at all, and there is nothing to be proud of."

"I treat everyone with respect, even the eunuchs in the palace and the beggars on the roadside. I never discriminate."

"This kind of character is far inferior to what he is now, not to mention Tiande back then."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it and found that it was indeed the case, and said:
"Fortunately, he attaches great importance to feelings. This is his biggest weakness, otherwise we might really not be able to tolerate him."

Queen Ma rolled her eyes at him and said angrily, "It's a disgrace to the scenery."

"Tell me, what's the matter with me?"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and talked about setting up rural officials and raising the salaries of hundreds of officials:
"Tell me, is this plan feasible?"

(End of this chapter)