The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 278 Zhu Biao’s Five Measures

Once the composition of the new cabinet members was announced, it immediately caused an uproar.

The military, arithmetic circles and other non-Confucian groups are naturally very happy, after all, they have benefited.

But most people are still gloating because Confucianism is unlucky.

The civil service group was filled with indignation.

In fact, strictly speaking, justice, accounting, supervision, etc. are all part of the civil service.

Of the seven members of the new cabinet, only one is a representative of the military, and the other six are from civilian officials.

Civil servants still have an absolute advantage, so why are they still so dissatisfied?

It’s a long story.

Civil servants initially referred to officials engaged in administrative affairs, corresponding to generals engaged in military affairs.

Thirty percent of the exam content is Confucianism and 70% is legal issues.

Sooner or later, Confucianism will lose control of this area.

During the Song Dynasty, Confucianism completely overwhelmed hundreds of schools of thought and achieved the true dominance of Confucianism.

In the past, they also called themselves civil servants, but now they basically call themselves Ji officials.

As mentioned before, most people get close to whomever they study.

Why?

Chen Jingke said in admiration: "Gao, Your Highness is really tall. If I were a civil servant, I would choke to death."

If the court were slightly more biased towards Legalist thought when reviewing papers, the effect would be even more significant.

Zhu Xiongying sneered and said: "Stop flattering, he can't hear it. Besides, isn't this something we have agreed upon? What's so clever about it?"

The representative of the military is precisely the Xungui Group.

You can imagine how frustrated I felt.

On the surface, the composition of Zhu Biao's new cabinet consists of six civilian officials and one military general. The civilian group still has an absolute advantage.

The establishment of the arithmetic circle, coupled with the emergence of the Financial Bureau, allowed Ji Guan to straighten his chest and conduct himself.

Although it was not stated explicitly, everyone knew that this was parting ways with the Confucian civil service system.

In this life, things took a turn for the better because of the appearance of Chen Jingke.

Nowadays, Ji Guan does not regard himself as belonging to the Confucian civil service system.

Moreover, the secretary's usual job is to provide advice to the emperor, so he naturally needs talents from all walks of life.

Because the cabinet is the emperor's secretarial agency, not a government agency.

In order to get high scores, candidates will inevitably study the law and even the spirit of Legalism.

The emperor had the right to choose secretaries according to his own preferences.

No matter how strong the Civil Service Group is, it is completely inadequate when facing the Xungui Group at this time.

Therefore, despite their unwillingness, they had to accept this reality.

As for the military strategists, this is the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, when the Xungui Group is at its strongest.

The judicial system is controlled by Confucianism, the official planning system is also run by Confucian descendants, and even the military is filled with Confucian people.

The cake that belongs exclusively to Confucianism was severely cut off by others.

Heirs of Confucianism can be civil servants, so can Legalists, Taoists, Mohists, and Buddhists.

Brokenness is only a matter of time.

What makes them even more uncomfortable is that they can't find any reason to object.

But from a Confucian perspective, this is not the case at all.

The key point is that Confucianism initially wanted to kick arithmetic out of the Imperial Academy, which pushed arithmetic into the opposite direction.

Many people may not understand that if no one promotes Legalist thought, how can he raise his head?

From this time on, civil servants became the exclusive title for Confucian officials.

Therefore, it is only a matter of time before Legalist thought rises, and no one needs to deliberately promote it.

Although the judicial system as a whole is still controlled by Confucianism, the imperial examination now has a special Mingfa section.

Legalist ideas gradually began to rise.

Even if a military general has the opportunity to become a civil servant, he will still be discriminated against because of his military background.

During the Song Dynasty, many irreparable cracks appeared in the large network formed by the dominance of Confucianism.

If you study more, you will naturally get closer to Legalism.

The only military strategist who could still maintain a little independence was also suppressed.

Even descendants of military strategists who engage in administrative affairs can also be called civil servants.

Now if you want to be a judicial officer, you must take the law exam.

Chen Jingke said: "Have you ever thought about why His Highness reorganized the cabinet first instead of giving the cabinet the right to vote?"

Zhu Xiongying was not stupid. He immediately thought of the relationship, nodded and said:

"Although he's not very smart, but... forget it, let's just call him smart."

Again, a cabinet without the power to vote is simply the emperor's secretary.

Although it was important, it was far from important enough for the civil service group to risk their lives and go against the emperor.

Therefore, when Zhu Biao adjusts the composition of the cabinet, even if the civil service group has opinions, they will not really say anything.

A cabinet with the right to vote is a deliberation body.

The civil service group is desperate to protect its own interests, and it is absolutely impossible for it to agree to adjust its members so easily.

Zhu Biao's trick is very simple and can be thought of by many smart people, but it is really easy to use.

The key is that he did it lightly. If he didn't know his true plan, he would never have guessed that there was such a deep calculation behind it.

When things got to this point, Zhu Biao still did not give the cabinet the power to vote, but first announced the new cabinet system.

Even more cleverly, he didn't announce it all, but only part of it.

The announced regulations include that cabinet bachelors are always of the fifth grade and are not allowed to hold concurrent posts, etc.

As for the right of refutation, it was not mentioned at all.

Seeing the newly announced rules, the officials were a little confused.

Is it necessary for a secretarial agency to have so many rules and regulations?

However, considering Zhu Yuanzhang's move to depose the prime minister, everyone thought that this was Zhu Biao's measure to prevent the cabinet from becoming powerful, so they didn't think much about it.

But what they didn't know was that they had indeed guessed correctly, and this was the measure taken to prevent the cabinet from becoming powerful.

However, the direction of prevention is completely different from what they thought.

After that, Zhu Biao stopped tossing the cabinet, making the ministers think that was the end.

Zhu Xiongying was a little confused, why didn't he continue the reform?
I was still waiting to see the fun, why did you stop?
He found Zhu Biao and asked his questions.

Zhu Biao did not explain directly, but smiled and said: "Haste makes waste."

Zhu Xiongying was puzzled at first. After he wanted to understand the reason, he said to Chen Jingke:
"My dad is such an old fox."

Chen Jingke, who knew the entire layout, had to sigh again at Zhu Biao's calmness.

The ministers are not fools. If they vote for the cabinet at this time, they will immediately realize what is going on.

The cultural management group that realizes that they have been deceived will resist whether it is for their own face or for their own power.

At that time, the court will be in chaos, and Zhu Biao and the new cabinet will be roasted on the fire.

Let's wait a little for a few months and wait until everyone gets used to the new cabinet before giving them the power to vote.

Even if the civil servants reacted, it was already too late.

This is Zhu Biao, who does things carefully and then act slowly.

This is completely different from Zhu Yuanzhang.

If it were Lao Zhu, no matter what the civil service group thought, the plan would be implemented immediately after it was formulated.

Anyone who dares to object should first see if their household registration book is thick enough.

Chen Jingke's previous reforms were by no means radical. The fact that they were implemented so smoothly was entirely due to Lao Zhu's strength.

The styles of father and son are very different, but I can't say who is better and who is worse.

Lao Zhu's style is more suitable for pioneering, but it will bring some confusion.

Zhu Biao's style is more suitable for conditioning after a serious illness. Although it is slow, it is better than stable.

After learning about Zhu Biao's plan, Chen Jingke was not in a hurry.

The last thing he lacks is time, so he should take his time.

Next, he devoted most of his time to formulating the new military system.

He goes in and out of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion every day and hangs out with a group of top nobles.

Because of the military system class, Feng Sheng and others had a thorough understanding of Chen Jingke's abilities.

Therefore, now they completely treat Chen Jingke as an equal.

All this was seen by others, and while they were surprised, they were even more in awe of Chen Jingke. Fuqing was so happy to learn that his husband could be on an equal footing with the older generation.

Most of the stagnation caused by childlessness was also dissipated.

This was a complete surprise, and Chen Jingke could finally put this matter aside for the time being.

Let’s talk about the imperial court.

Zhu Biao was not tossing the cabinet, but he did not stop. Instead, he continued to toss the military.

Last time, he ordered the northern frontier to shrink its defense line and focus on defensive counterattacks.

It was regarded by the ministers as a signal of strategic contraction.

But this command alone is not enough to prove this guess.

Now new orders have come down.

A new governor was appointed to Cochin, who was fully responsible for the military and political affairs of Cochin.

He also ordered Jin King Zhu Fan to lead the army back to the court, leaving only enough defensive power for Jiaozhi.

This was not the end, and then he ordered that all other places except Yunnan should reduce their military strength and focus on defense.

Soon after, he again ordered the redundant troops on all sides to be withdrawn, leaving only defensive forces.

At this time, the officials were finally sure that Ming Dynasty was going to recuperate.

The civil servants were naturally happy to celebrate, and His Royal Highness the Prince was indeed a kindhearted king who could sympathize with the people.

Naturally, the military criticized this and even felt a sense of crisis.

But Xu Da and others calmed down all dissatisfaction with just one sentence:

"Do you want to take turns? Do you want to go home and hug your mother-in-law?"

As a result, most of the soldiers immediately became honest. After all, they had not been home for so many years and they were homesick.

The remaining handful of war fanatics can't make any waves.

Chen Jingke also had to lament that the hot bed with his wife and children was so attractive to Chinese people.

After making adjustments to the army, Zhu Biao began to turn to domestic affairs.

Orders were conveyed to various states and counties through the post station.

The main purpose is to order officials to appease the people and encourage farmers to cultivate mulberry trees.

The most important of them are five:

The first is to deepen reform. Previous reforms were not implemented thoroughly in many places. This time, they must be implemented to the most basic level.

To this end, Zhu Biao ordered Jinyiwei, Yushitai and other agencies to dispatch to monitor the world and urge reforms in various places.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs was also ordered to formulate assessment standards, and where the implementation of the new law failed to meet the standards, corresponding penalties would be imposed.

The lighter punishment ranges from reprimanding and demoting the official, to the severe punishment includes dismissal from office and imprisonment.

This murderous order shocked all the officials and reminded them of the prince's true face.

His kindness was completely brought out by his father.

The officials who were originally slacking off because the prince was in power quickly put their thoughts aside and became much more careful in their work.

Zhu Biao's second initiative is about refugees.

We will conduct an inventory of the refugees, and those whose origins can be traced will be sent back to their places of origin, and those whose origins cannot be traced will be settled on the spot and allocated land.

This was only possible in the early days of the dynasty when the imperial court had a large amount of land in its hands.

The third measure is about people's livelihood.

Children under five years old are entitled to one chicken per year.

For those over sixty years old, one dog per person per year.

The actual significance of this article is not great. It is mainly to show the benevolence of the monarch.

But the next one is very important.

Those whose land does not exceed 500 acres and whose family has a sixty-year-old man to support will be exempted from the 10% land tax.

Those with more than three children to support are also exempt from the 10% land tax.

If there are both elderly people and more than three children, the land tax can be reduced by 20% cumulatively.

As soon as this measure came out, the whole world was in a frenzy.

All the officials and people called the prince Shengming.

Zhu Biao's reputation for kindness has been recognized throughout the world.

Chen Jingke is no exception and has deep respect for Zhu Biao.

This measure is a real policy to benefit the people, and it benefits real ordinary people.

After all, there is a standard of five hundred acres of land.

Many people will say that if you own 500 acres of land, you are a big landowner.

No.

In ancient times, shifting cultivation was practiced, with half of the land growing crops and half resting to restore fertility.

Of the 500 acres of land, only 250 acres actually produce grain.

Moreover, the yield at that time was very low, and the yield of fertile land was only about two dan per mu.

How much is left after the costs and taxes to be paid?

At that time, 500 acres of land was considered a rich farmer at best.

For real big landowners, land is not measured by acres, but by miles.

Every tree and plant in the area of ​​dozens or hundreds of miles belongs to someone else. This is the big landowner.

In short, Zhu Biao’s policy truly benefits all people.

It is foreseeable that the population of Ming Dynasty will experience explosive growth in the next twenty years.

Zhu Biao's fourth initiative was to build water conservancy projects.

The war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty resulted in the destruction of many water conservancy facilities, which have not been repaired to this day.

Moreover, the diversion of the Yellow River and the reorganization of the Huaihe River have also resulted in the previous water conservancy facilities being unusable and having to be re-excavated.

I didn’t have that time before, but now I can finally do it.

The fifth article is the reclamation order.

Land that has not been cultivated within five years is considered wasteland and anyone has the right to reclaim it.

Newly reclaimed land will be exempt from taxes for five years.

This move was strongly opposed by the bureaucratic scholar-bureaucrat group, and even the noble group rarely reserved its opinions.

Quite simply, they are the ones who own the most land.

Large tracts of land were left uncultivated because there were not enough manpower to cultivate them.

Of course, another reason is that the family has a lot of property and doesn't care about the wasteland.

But it's one thing for me to not care about it, and it's another thing for me to be reclaimed by others.

Naturally they don't want to see this happen.

Faced with the opposition of the ministers, Zhu Biao seemed to be well prepared and calmly revised this order.

Encourage the people to cultivate the wasteland without owners, and the wastelands with owners cannot be touched.

But at the same time, he also issued a decree asking the bureaucrats and noble groups to reclaim their wasteland as soon as possible.

If there is too much land to plant, it can be sold to the court.

The ministers didn't know that this was the prince's original intention, and they and others were deceived.

But it was too late to know. I had already objected once before, and if I objected again now, I would not give the prince face.

I could only hold my nose and accept the order.

Either find a way to get people to reclaim their own wasteland, or they can only sell some wasteland to the court.

What no one expected was that not long after, many Kunlun slaves and Japanese slaves appeared in the Ming Dynasty.

They were all bought to farm by big landowners.

Japanese slaves can tell by their names that they are slaves bought from Japan.

The name Kunlun slave comes from the Tang Dynasty and is the name given to black slaves.

But the Kunlun slaves of the Ming Dynasty were not black people, but people from Southeast Asia and Tianzhu. They were named Kunlun slaves because of their dark skin.

This matter once gave Chen Jingke a headache, and he tried many ways to solve it.

Of course, this is all for later, let’s not mention it for now.

Zhu Biao's five measures basically determined the policy direction of Ming Dynasty in the next few years.

Various government agencies began to re-adjust their work priorities to comply with the New Deal.

At this moment, the military seemed unwilling to be left alone and came up with the reserve bill that had been prepared for a long time.

(End of this chapter)