golden scales

Guochao has many unspoken rules called conventions.Although it is not found in the classics, the rules for people are Judas.Among them, the southerners are not allowed to hold the household book is one of them.Ni Yuanlu is from Shangyu, Zhejiang Province, a genuine southerner, and a clear-cut member of the Donglin Party, at least a Donglin sympathizer.

If any of these two items is involved, it is impossible to hold the post of Minister of the Household Department in the Chongzhen Dynasty.In particular, the latter had an affair with Donglin, which seriously violated Emperor Chongzhen's policy strategy of "killing people with a knife, and hiding the bird with its bow".

However, Ni Yuanlu fell in love with Chongzhen.

Even though Chen Yan and Wei Zaode ridiculed Ni Yuanlu several times for "scholars who don't understand money and food", Emperor Chongzhen insisted on letting him be the secretary of the household department.

After hearing that his son also intends to use Ni Yuanlu to take charge of the household department, Chongzhen couldn't help admiring his vision, which was the same as what his son had seen.It was just that he immediately realized that such a thought would greatly disappoint the emperor's spirit, and instead praised his son for having his own vision.

After coming out from Jiang Dejing's side, Chongzhen didn't care about the screen or not, and went directly to the Wenhua Palace.I just caught up with Zhu Cihong and Ni Yuanlu discussing calligraphy and painting.Chongzhen thought he was late, so he didn't ask any more questions, because he liked the way, chatted a few words together, and then asked Ni Yuanlu to leave.

"Is there any order for the emperor here?" Zhu Cihong waited for Ni Yuanlu to retire before asking again.

"Walk around for nothing." Chongzhen coughed dryly, feeling a little guilty about covering up like this, and said again: "Are you discussing the household affairs with Ni Yuanlu?"

Zhu Cihong didn't know how Chongzhen had such an association, because in his opinion, Ni Yuanlu had no financial talent at all.On the contrary, it was Jiang Chen, the former secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, who had thought deeply about the issue of banknotes, which was why Zhu Cihong planned to promote him.

However, since the emperor asked about the Ministry of Household Affairs, Zhu Cihong happened to reveal a little about the restructuring of the six central ministries.

"Father, the post of Minister of the Household Department, I'm afraid I have to think about it." Zhu Cihong said: "Recently, my son discussed the six matters with several old gentlemen, and I got a little bit of money. I dare to hear about your majesty the father."

"Oh? Six-part reform? Let's hear it." Chongzhen sat down on the throne generously, waiting for Zhu Cihong to speak.

Zhu Cilang asked the servants to serve tea.Fangcai said: "Father, since the establishment of the system of three provinces and six ministries in Sui Wen, there has been a change only when the high emperor of the country abolished the three provinces. It took a thousand years. During the millennium, the sea has changed, let alone human affairs? Therefore, I want to reform the six ministries. , to refine their responsibilities and specialize in their work.”

Chongzhen nodded, realizing that this was a big topic, and it would be inconvenient to express his opinion if he didn't think deeply about it, so he just listened.

"The six ministries are headed by the Ministry of Rites. Its responsibilities are about four." Zhu Cihong said: "First, to manage academic affairs. In charge of cultural and educational examinations, which is the code of talent for the country; second, to test Ji, Jia, Jun, Bin, and fierce The purpose of the five rituals is to be in charge of the rules and regulations; thirdly, the admirals will be in the same hall, and strictly follow the guest etiquette; fourthly, to handle the affairs of the feast and the feast.”

For the emperor, these were common sense, not knowledge, so Chongzhen just thought about it for a while, and felt that there was no omission or deviation in this classification, and nodded slightly, signaling Zhu Cihong to continue.

"I believe that the responsibilities of the Ministry of Rites overlap with that of Honglu Temple and Guanglu Temple," Zhu Cihong said.

Honglu Temple is responsible for praising, while Guanglu Temple is responsible for banquets.The relationship with the Ministry of Rites is both independent and unified.Because of the high regulations of the Ministry of Rites, the minister of the Ministry of Rites is called "Da Zongbo", and in official practice, they are also "Prince Ministers", so these two little Jiuqings are basically reduced to servants.

"I think that rites are the foundation of a country, so the Ministry of Rites is still in charge of academic affairs and examinations. The use of the five rites belongs to Honglu Temple; the affairs of banquets, granaries, and livestock prisons belong to Guanglu Temple. As for Because the Ministry of War also has the Huitong Pavilion, the Huitong Pavilion of the two ministries is put together in one place, and the General Administration of Communications is specially set up to manage it.”

Chongzhen frowned slightly, thinking about the feasibility of this method.

Taking charge of academic examinations is the most important function of the Ministry of Rites, and there is no doubt that they must stay in the Ministry of Rites.The use of the five ceremonies is also a job for Honglu Temple, and it can indeed be handed over to handle all of them. At most, it is necessary to send a cabinet minister to supervise important ceremonies.

Guanglu Temple was originally responsible for the meals in Da Nei, but I don’t know when the emperor’s meal system was chaotic. Basically, whoever wanted to do it was allowed to do it. In Wanli, the eunuchs of various supervisors and bureaus were also assigned to take turns. Tribute.Therefore, Guanglu Temple is only responsible for the arrangement of sacrifices and banquets.

"My son's general administration is about at the level of the temple. Is it too high?" Chongzhen questioned the General Administration of Communications.

The General Administration of Communications envisioned by Zhu Cihong is actually the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of later generations.He subconsciously spit out the term "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" at first, but the elders were completely puzzled.It wasn't until he explained a little bit that the elders in the pavilion realized that this was "a matter of dealing with foreign affairs".

Although the Ming Dynasty already had a clear concept of "foreign" and used it in official texts such as memorials, the concept of "all directions in the world, kings, lands and kings" is still deeply rooted in the hearts of traditional scholar-bureaucrats.The resulting suzerain-vassal system is really difficult to distinguish between "inside and outside".

For example, China and North Korea can be called foreign countries, but North Korea is actually a vassal state, Ming is the suzerain state, and the envoys sent are angels, and the etiquette system such as canonizing its king is just like the domestic canonization of princes.

Is this diplomacy?Internal?

At this time, "traffic" does not mean the transportation of people and goods, but only the mutual communication.Those university scholars took the word "traffic" as a matter of course, and were very curious why His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had such a clear and thorough word to use, but created a "diplomacy" instead.

"Father, the people from Taixi have arrived in our Daming now, and it is not too far for our people from Taixi to go to Taixi. At that time, it is natural to set up a permanent envoy to prevent the barbaric country from treating our people harshly." Zhu Cihong said: "I will consult you According to Mr. Tang, there are dozens of big countries and dozens of small countries in Taixi, which is quite like our country in the pre-Qin period. When a country sends an envoy, it will be a big army."

Chongzhen had seen the "Map of All Nations and Countries under Heaven" presented by Matteo Ricci, and knew that there were Kyushu beyond Kyushu, and there were many countries in the world.If you think about it, if there are hundreds of countries, each sending an ambassador, there will be hundreds of people, which is indeed a large number.

Seeing that Chongzhen didn't ask any more questions, Zhu Cihong knew that the Ministry of Rites was almost over, so he continued: "The inherent duties of the Ministry of War remain the same, but the joint hall belongs to the General Administration of Communications, and the post houses in various places are all separated."

Hearing such things as the dismantling of the post station, Chongzhen's heart skipped a beat.

If it hadn't been for the abolition of the post station at the beginning, which made the postman Li Chuang unemployed and without a place to go, how could there be "cause trouble" later?

"The posthouse system was inherited from Zhou." Zhu Cihong said: "If it is subdivided, there are two parts. One is news transmission, and the other is the supply of food and lodging. My son wants to pass the news on. It is the postal temple alone."

"The popularity of virtue can be passed on as quickly as postage." Chongzhen recited the chapters and sentences in "Mencius" casually, nodded and said: "As the name suggests, yes."

When Zhu Cihong proposed to carry out national postal distribution, several elders felt that it was unnecessary and a waste of money and food.Seeing that the emperor was interested in this, Zhu Cihong immediately ordered Lu Suyao to fetch a "Sketch of Huangming Postal Biography", hung it up, picked up a wishful handle and pointed: "Father, please look, the red circle here is Beizhi, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, and Shandong prefectures, the black dots are the counties under their jurisdiction. The straight line connected by the charcoal pen is the post road."

Chongzhen moved forward slightly, and saw that Huang Mingkun's map had indeed added different marks.

"These places have registered household registrations and combined household registration and house numbers together. In the future, a postal letter may be sent from Beijing, and someone will send it to someone in a certain county in Shandong. How about this?" Zhu Cihong painted a big cake , depicting postal convenience.

"I'm afraid the cost is too high." Chongzhen said worriedly.

"The post office should make money." Zhu Cihong said: "If you only send one letter and one letter, and send one person to go there, the cost will be extremely high. If you set up post stations in various squares to collect letters and parcels and fill up a box, It will save a lot of money to transport it by boat and car. The officials in my dynasty are not close to the hometown, so the officials in the north use them in the south, and the officials in the south use them in the north, and the consumption is immeasurable. If a book only costs three to five renminbi, the country has As for the balance, the exile officials have to ask each other about family affairs, isn't it killing two birds with one stone?"

"What if there is no one to post?" Chongzhen was keenly aware that this was a high-volume job.If the quantity is large, you can still make money by apportioning it. If there is only one letter in ten days and half a month, should you send it or not?

"The ministers first returned to the Post Office Temple by the imperial court. Secondly, many refugees have settled down in other places. If they are allowed to return to their hometowns, the country will be in chaos. If they are not allowed to return, they will not be able to communicate with their homeland. , It is actually a hindrance to human relations. Therefore, these people always have to send letters back to their hometowns to search for their clans. This is another deal. Besides, the state's public treasures must not be lost without money." Zhu Cihong said firmly.

Chongzhen smiled wryly: "Where did you get so much money?"

"My son never worries about money, and he has never been short of money." Zhu Cihong said with a smile.

Chongzhen gave a smile of "Young people don't know how to feel sad", and said: "This is a postal mail, what about the building?"

"Privately run." Zhu Cihong said: "All posthouses and buildings are bought and operated by the people, and the imperial court only collects taxes. Official exchanges can still be spent, but the expenses are planned and listed by the Zhaomo Institute of each official." The Terumo Institute is a collection of the financial department and logistics general affairs.This allowed the official consumption of officials to be clearly recorded on the record, so that there would be no embezzlement incidents such as robbery of mules and horses in post stations.

"Someone among the people will take over?" Chongzhen asked in surprise.

The reason why the post station will be abolished is because the consumption is huge and the country cannot afford it.

Zhu Cihong didn't think so.In addition to rigid costs such as raising mules and horses, postmen’s wages, building maintenance, etc., many officials forcibly occupied the post office, and the direct management officials harmed the public and benefited privately.In short, it's a bad asset that's expensive to manage.If the management methods can be improved, it is inevitable to turn losses into profits.

Furthermore, the difficulty of traveling in this era is well known, and the key is the difficulty of accommodation.If a group of economical hotel chains without market competition can be established, they will surely be profitable.

Leaving aside private consumption, how much is the travel expenses of the imperial court and public officials alone?

"No one wants it, so my family will do it." Zhu Cihong expressed his heart.

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