At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 528: Cleansing the Officialdom

Finally, Zheng Qi ordered the Jiujiang County government office, county offices at all levels, and township office canteens to purchase the mustard greens produced by farmers. Only when the mustard greens were eaten up would the canteens be allowed to replace other dishes. Local farmers were not allowed to suffer losses.

Hearing this, the Han officials below were so angry that their faces almost twitched like buns. One acre of land can grow several hundred kilograms of mustard greens, and tens of thousands of acres of land can produce several million kilograms of mustard greens. There are more than 500 Han officials, doctors, and teachers in Jiujiang. Each of them will need to eat at least kilograms of mustard greens to finish them, which will take an eternity.

All the Han officials left the county military supervisory office with gloomy faces.

Zheng Qi looked at this group of people and helplessly said to Xiong Ju and Ding Yue: "The Han officials in Jiujiang County have not even changed their ideas. They have not kept up with the development of the Han Dynasty in recent years. When they encounter problems, they can't even find the correct solution. They are unwilling to be humble and learn. They can't even do the simplest truth-seeking. They only know how to cover up their mistakes. No wonder Jiujiang County has not had any industrial development in recent years."

Zheng Qi really felt helpless. He had had enough of these weird subordinates in the past six months. They always used some agricultural society's problem-solving ideas to deal with the problems of industrialization, which really opened his eyes.

He wanted to develop industries and attract foreign investment, and many merchants came. However, the Han officials in Jiujiang County still viewed merchants according to the old concept of the Warring States Period, that is, scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans. They treated them like masters, thinking that they were given food by the masters and that they should be grateful. Some even wanted to accept bribes. This attitude directly scared away the merchants.

The industrialization of the Han Dynasty has been developing for more than 20 years. Zheng Qi has been staying in either Guanzhong or Chenjun, a large industrial county. He thought that even if the economy in other places was a little worse, it was just a problem of industrial development. He did not expect that there were still people living in the Qin Dynasty. With this group of unqualified Han officials, how could the industry of Jiujiang County develop?
Ding Yue said helplessly: "The Han Dynasty has developed too fast in recent years, creating two separate worlds. One is the industrial counties dominated by Guanzhong, Chenjun, and Kuaiji. They have created most of the wealth in the world and also absorbed most of the wealth in the world. They are rushing towards the world of great harmony under the leadership of the emperor.

However, border counties of the Han Dynasty, such as Jiujiang County and Hengshan County, are still in the old world. Even though there are a few small workshops, they still operate according to the rules of the old world. They seem to have been abandoned by the new era. In fact, Jiujiang County is not so bad. The local people still have a way out, but if you go to the northern border counties, you will find that the development of the Han Dynasty in the past 20 years has not had much impact on them. If the rural problems are not solved, our Han Dynasty will never be able to truly embark on a well-off governance. "

The Legalists and Mohists were in big cities, and they could feel this rapidly changing era more clearly, but the Nongists were in rural areas, especially in recent years as they expanded from Shangjun to Yanmen, Shanggu and other northern counties of the Han Dynasty. They could feel that the local rural areas were still operating in the same model as they had for thousands of years, and the establishment of the Han Dynasty did not have much impact on them. The scholars of the Nongists could feel more clearly that there were two worlds within the Han Dynasty, and the gap between the two worlds was becoming larger and larger.

Zheng Qi thought for a while and said, "The agricultural problem will eventually be solved by industry. Jiujiang should recruit a group of Han officials from industrial counties to Jiujiang County to develop the industry. At the same time, a group of Han officials from Jiujiang County should be eliminated to make them feel a sense of crisis and actively learn the industrialized way of doing things. Otherwise, the reform will not succeed."

Xiong Ju laughed and said, "Seek truth from facts. The emperor has been talking about it for 20 years, and a generation of people have grown up. But you see how much effect it has. Isn't it that such a thing of covering one's ears and stealing the bell has happened? In my opinion, they are used to being masters. If you send them to the countryside to cultivate the land and work in workshops, they will naturally be pragmatic. This is called people teaching people. If you can't teach them, you can teach them by doing things.

Who are the most pragmatic people in the Han Dynasty? They are the soldiers. Han officials will not pay a high price for stealing a bell, but they will pay with their lives if they do so. "

He also didn't like the Han officials in Jiujiang. In Chen County, they, the Mohists, were guests of honor even in the county magistrate's office. However, after coming to Jiujiang County, the local Han officials knew that he was just an ordinary Mohist, and they did not hide their contempt for him at all, and they almost said to him in person that you are just a useless blacksmith.

Zheng Qi was embarrassed when he heard this and said, "This is a bit murderous and hurtful. I am afraid it will cause dissatisfaction among the Han officials."

Zheng Qi thought that dismissal was too much, and he even had to undergo so-called labor reform. How was this different from being a criminal? This would cause dissatisfaction among the entire group of Han officials in Jiujiang County, and it would be difficult for him to push forward his reforms.

Xiong Judao said: "How can it be said that it is killing people and destroying their hearts? This is to transform their minds through labor. Farming and ironwork are done by farmers and craftsmen. Can't they do it? There is such a reason in the world. Your Majesty has said that labor is the most glorious thing, and he has also said that the Han Dynasty should be built into a country of workers.

Even His Majesty often went to the fields to do farm work. Do they think that His Majesty can do farm work that they cannot? Labor reform is to make them empathize with farmers and craftsmen and make them qualified workers.

They should feel honored and grateful that even though they have been pulled down by the current Han Dynasty, the court still has not given up on them. But if they don't even have this little bit of ambition, then they shouldn't blame the court for abandoning them."

Zheng Qi thought about it and finally reported the three people's ideas to the court.

After Xu Fan read Zheng Qi's memorial and saw what Ding Yue said about the rural problems of the Han Dynasty, he frowned. Shang Nong had discussed this issue with him many times, and the only solution he could think of was tax reduction.

The agricultural problem is difficult to solve even in the future, but this problem cannot be ignored. If it is ignored, the blood of the countryside will be sucked dry by the city. The only way to solve this problem is to use development, bring the countryside into industrialization, and occupy a position in the industry. At the same time, the administrative power of the court is used to improve the development of the Han Dynasty's rural areas, gather villages and villages, industrialize agriculture, and improve rural infrastructure. These are the prescriptions for rural areas in the future. The focus of the Han Dynasty's development will be on the countryside.

At the same time, Xu Fan was very interested in the labor reform part. How to educate Han officials has always been one of the most important political affairs of the Han Dynasty.

But it is so difficult to make officials pragmatic. Being pragmatic means doing things, but it is human nature to be lazy and hate work. For more than 2000 years of feudal history, officials, in order to avoid doing things, belittled and suppressed them to the extreme. They only wanted to gain power, but did not want to do anything or take responsibility.

This tradition remains the same even in later generations, except that it is called posed photography.

But even so, they did not do it well. They laid red carpets on the fields at every turn. When they were ridiculed, they justified their behavior by saying that the red carpet would make the wheat grow faster. This can only make people worry about the quality of their brains.

But this is understandable. If you don't do anything, you naturally don't know what a person who does things should be like, and the posed photos will naturally be full of loopholes.

On the one hand, Xu Fan agreed to transfer 200 Han officials from Chen County and Kuaiji County to Jiujiang County to take over the development of Jiujiang County's industry. On the other hand, he asked Zheng Qi to conduct a labor reform pilot for unqualified Han officials in Jiujiang County. Those who passed the reform could continue to serve as Han officials, while those who failed would be dismissed. The 26th year of the Han calendar, May 1st.

The Han officials in Jiujiang County were shocked to find that the court had transferred 400 Han officials from Chen County and Kuaiji County to Jiujiang. The court had always assigned one official position to each person. Although Zheng Qi had brought hundreds of officials with him when he took office, it was for the purpose of reform. Now that the court had added another Han officials, they immediately had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, their premonition came true the next day. Legalists took away more than 20 Han officials from the county magistrate's office. The reason for taking them away was that they violated Han laws and oppressed the people. This time, the Legalists' butcher knife was aimed at them.

After Zheng Qi obtained permission from the court, he began to vigorously purge the local tyrants in Jiujiang County. If the scores of the Han officials in Jiujiang County were calculated on a percentage basis, most of them would be below the passing line, and these local tyrants were negative scorers. Not only could they not complete the appointments made by the court, they also oppressed the people in the local area and committed evil.

If local people wanted to open a workshop, they had to pay tribute to them first. Even if they made a lot of money, they would directly use the power of the court to plunder. The key point was that they opened the workshops in the same way they treated tenants. It would be strange if the workshops could do well. Even if they plundered the tenants, they would soon decline.

They have contributed to the current situation in Jiujiang County. In the words of later generations, they are obstacles to industrial society and remnants of feudalism. If we want to develop industry, we have to eliminate them.

Then they received the three-piece set of measures used by the Han Dynasty court to deal with corrupt officials: those who committed serious crimes would be hanged, their property would be confiscated, and their entire families would be exiled to the New World.

After defeating this group of local tyrants with negative scores, Zheng Qi began to target those Han officials who scored 10, 20, and 30 points. Some of them were also corrupt, and some were just lazy and indolent. Of course, they might not see it that way. In the agricultural era, there was another term for lazy and indolent governance, which was called "ruling by inaction."

But it was obvious that they were no longer suitable for the current development of Jiujiang County. The positions they occupied made it impossible for qualified Han officials to display their talents. So they had to be cleared out.

These people became the targets of the second attack, and their vacant positions were taken over by Han officials from Chen County and Jiujiang County.

Zheng Qi's targeted anti-corruption campaign made the Han officials in Jiujiang County feel insecure. They never expected that the first target of the reform they had been looking forward to for five or six years would be them.

At this time, they recalled that the rise of the Legalists during the Warring States Period and their becoming the mainstream school of thought in various countries was due to their becoming the butcher's knife of the kings. They killed the most of their own people. The organizers of the reforms in various countries were all cruel officials, and every reform was a bloodbath.

They were really confused. They only saw the benefits of the Chenjun Reform. The Legalists had only been defeated for 20 years, and they even forgot what the Legalists did. But in the current situation, even if they wanted to refuse, it was impossible. They could only silently endure the consequences of their choice.

There were only about 4,000 Han officials in the entire Jiujiang County, and the court was going to kill one-tenth of them. According to later sayings, if one-tenth of the soldiers in an army died, the army would be defeated and lose its combat effectiveness. From this, we can see the fear of the Han officials about this purge, which was equivalent to them experiencing a major defeat.

Under such life-and-death pressure, the Han officials finally felt a sense of urgency and began to treat merchants and the people in a friendly manner. They also began to complete the tasks given to them by the court with all their heart, and began to stand on the court's side and denounce the local small-scale feudalism. They knew that they were useful to the court, so they could escape the massacre, otherwise they would only become part of the purge.

This purge lasted for a month. It came and went quickly, and more than 430 Han officials in Jiujiang County were wiped out. The rest who escaped were all frightened birds.

In such an atmosphere, Zheng Qi summoned all the Han officials in Jiujiang County to discuss the matter.

Zheng Qi said: "Jiujiang County is located between the Yangtze River and the Huai River, and the Grand Canal passes through it. There are also wealthy places like Chen County and Kuaiji County around it. It can be said that this is a treasure land that occupies the right time, place and people. It is a wealthy place, but since the founding of our Han Dynasty, it has never developed."

"I know that many of you say that Chen County and Kuaiji County are sucking the blood of Jiujiang. One of the two counties is the birthplace of the Han Dynasty, and the other occupied the golden age of the Great Navigation. Jiujiang County fell behind step by step, and then fell behind step by step, which led to the current situation."

"But in my opinion, the right time and right place are all excuses. They are your excuses for your own decadence and inaction. Jiujiang County has not developed, and the most lacking thing is harmony among people. Will the dividends of the great voyage be monopolized by Ji County alone? Can't my Jiujiang County ships trade at sea? The production capacity of Chen County Steel Plant has exceeded 100 million catties, but our Jiujiang County's steel can only be used to make some farm tools. Even Jiujiang County's farmers prefer Chen County's farm tools. Jiujiang County is full of Chen County iron. Don't you feel ashamed?"

"The textile industry is a labor-intensive industry, and the salaries of craftsmen account for more than half of the cost. The salary of craftsmen in Chen County is as high as 2000 coins, but there are still textile factories everywhere. The salary in Jiujiang County is not even 800 coins. Merchants can save nearly % of the cost of each piece of cloth by building textile factories in Jiujiang County, but even so, no one comes."

"Is it because the merchants of our Han Dynasty are kindhearted that they are willing to pay high salaries to our Han Dynasty craftsmen?"

"I can tell you that it is not true at all, because the business environment in Jiujiang County is so bad that merchants dare not come here. On the one hand, they are worried that they will not be able to make money, and on the other hand, they are worried that the money they make will be taken away by trickery. Don't you feel ashamed in this situation?"

"Many of my colleagues here today did not come because they did not complete the court's mission. In my opinion, most of you are unqualified, but now the court is willing to give you a chance. As long as you obey the court's orders and make Jiujiang County prosperous, the court will not only forgive you, but also reuse you. You should think carefully about how to choose."

(End of this chapter)