Ming politicians

() After leaving the second hall, Zheng Keyou was still waiting outside.

"Lord Su, the former magistrate of Jiangning County has already been transferred to the capital. The seal and documents are all sealed in the county government office. The next official will lead your lord to go through the handover procedures."

Su Tiancheng nodded, but did not speak.

He hadn't expected such an appointment ceremony. After traveling for more than a year, especially after the palace examination, he at least knew something about it. He expressed his welcome and respect for the imperial court, and then he went to the official office to take office.

But today's inauguration ceremony is considered extremely clean. After receiving a lot of anti-corruption education, he reported his thoughts and went directly to the county government of Jiangning County.

On the surface, Fu Yin Wang Daozhi is very honest and honest, but the real situation is by no means that simple. It is said that no matter how Tang Haitai and the fourth son of Donglin demean themselves, such a situation will not happen. other reasons.

Thinking of disowning himself, without this reason, he could not threaten Wang Daozhi. As a third-rank official, Wang Daozhi didn't need to compete with himself, the sixth-rank magistrate who just took office.

What is the reason, Su Tiancheng can't think of it for the time being.

After Su Tiancheng left, Wang Daozhi looked a little serious.

According to the usual practice, he at least had to arrange government offices and prepare banquets, but he didn't do that.

The emperor's secret decree has arrived long ago, and this secret decree was directly given to him.

It was precisely because of this secret decree that he did not arrange a banquet.

After being in the officialdom for so many years, this was the first time he had received such a secret decree. There was nothing unusual about a secret decree, as long as it was not reflected in the mansion newspaper, it was a so-called secret decree.However, it is not easy to involve the secret decree of employing people. You must know that the local officials that the emperor cares about are basically the prefects of the fourth rank or above.

The content of the secret decree is not very complicated, but there is one sentence that he does not understand, and that is decentralization.

Jiangning County and Shangyuan County are the two Gyeonggi counties in Nanjing City, and they are also the two most important counties under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture. Yingtianfu is very concerned about every move in these two places, including Minister of War Tang Shiji, The guarding eunuch Wang Zhen also pays attention to the situation here. The Nanjing Camp's Tokyo Camp and Xijing Camp are both in the jurisdiction of Jiangning County.

The magistrates of Jiangning County have always been highly valued. Su Tiancheng's predecessor was transferred to the capital, entered the household department, and became a doctor.

These two places are also places that Ying Tianfu pays close attention to.

Although there are eight counties under the jurisdiction of Yingtianfu, the biggest focus is on Shangyuan County and Jiangning County.

These two places each have their own characteristics. Needless to say, Shangyuan County, Huangcheng, Liubu, Duchayuan, and Yingtianfu are all within the jurisdiction of Shangyuan County. Jiangning County is vast, with many merchants, and the same land a lot of.

The two places have always received attention because of their special terrain. To put it bluntly, among the 1138 counties in Daming, Shangyuan County and Jiangning County are at the top.

In the midst of the secret decree, the emperor proposed to decentralize power. Could it be that he wanted to support the work of Jiangning County more.

Because of the special place, Shangyuan County and Jiangning County have been constrained by a lot. Those who pay attention here include Yingtian Mansion and Governor Yingtian, including the Sixth Ministry and the guarding eunuch. There are many superiors, any first-level , The magistrate must pay attention to what is said. Sometimes, the opinions of the superiors are contradictory, and the magistrate is caught in the middle, at a loss, and often delays a lot of things.

The biggest trouble lies in the many sons and daughters of officials.

The officials of the six ministries of Nanjing and the Metropolitan Procuratorate did not change much, many of them were because they were getting old or were excluded. They came to Nanjing and would not adjust for many years. After a long time, the family members who came with them He and descendants gradually adapted to the prosperity of Nanjing City and took root here.

Don't look at the officials of the Sixth Ministry and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. They don't have much power, but the relationship behind most officials is not simple. Moreover, the officials of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households adjust more frequently. The capital has gone, and he may directly enter the six ministries or the cabinet, becoming a prominent prime minister for a while.

Under such circumstances, naturally no one would offend them.

Nanjing is a prosperous place, and it is also a place of high consumption. With that pitiful salary, it is very difficult to live a decent life. If you are poor, you want to change. Many officials are not easy to come forward directly. Their children, Just come forward and get entangled with merchants, making use of all kinds of relationships to earn money.

This situation is somewhat common.

Shangyuan County and Jiangning County belong to rich and prosperous places, but they can’t pay taxes on time every year. The yamen servants and tax clerks of the county government are similar to Guisunzi. For things, if you enter the prison, you will be wronged. Anyway, you can't collect taxes and taxes. The responsibility lies with the county government, and they don't have much to do.

After Wang Daozhi took office, he once thought about changing this situation, but unfortunately it didn't work very well. The top and bottom are both positive and negative. This involves the interests of many officials. Who will support it.

The biggest problem is that officials' salaries are too low.

Wang Daozhi was a governor of the third rank, and his annual salary was only more than 200 taels of silver. If he didn't have the routine money of thousands or even tens of thousands of taels to maintain, it would be a problem to eat.

Where does the conventional money come from? It cannot fall from the sky, and it is not dependent on the offerings of merchants and lower-level officials.

As for the amount of regular silver, it is directly linked to their authority. For example, officials from the Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Punishment, Metropolitan Procuratorate and other departments in Nanjing have pitifully few regular rules. They are the servants of the third rank, who can earn thousands of taels of silver every year. As usual, it's amazing.On the other hand, the magistrate of Gyeonggi County, who is the sixth rank, usually has no less money than him, the prefect.

The polarization of officials in Nanjing is very serious. There are officials who are extremely rich, and there are also many officials who are poor and unsustainable. When any Yingtian Fu Yin first took office, he wanted to I am trying to change this situation, but as time goes by, I gradually adapt and admit the existence of the gap.

Wealthy officials have power in their hands, and power can be turned into money, adding fat to fat. Officials without power try to curry favor with their superiors, make friends with merchants, and get money from them. As for the taxes that the court should levy, that is not their own business. Nobody really cares.

This kind of vicious cycle protects the interests of big landlords and big merchants to the greatest extent. It is the farmers and small merchants who suffer the most. In the affluent Nanzhili, it seems unimaginable, but in fact it is ubiquitous.

The county magistrates in Gyeonggi do not have extraordinary coordination ability, so they are not able to carry out work at all. There are so many Bodhisattvas above, you have to listen to whoever says a word, otherwise you will not be able to sit still, and you will not be able to sit still. You are at a disadvantage, and there is no place to complain, and people will laugh at you for being ignorant of current affairs.

Wang Dao felt that although Su Tiancheng was the second place in the palace examination and wrote so many amazing poems, he was young after all, only 19 years old, not as young as a weak crown, so it is impossible for him to have so much experience in politics. Why did the emperor put Su Tiancheng in a row? When I came to Jiangning County, the truth behind it was really worth pondering.

Could it be that decentralization means that Su Tiancheng is required to collect taxes to change this vicious cycle.

Thinking of this, Wang Daozhi sighed.

If the emperor sent such a young Su Tiancheng here, if he wanted to change the situation in Nanzhili, it would be an improper employment. Su Tiancheng has no background, at least in Nanzhili, and without deep support, how could he complete such a difficult task. The network of connections that even the Governor of Yingtian Mansion can't shake, a mere magistrate of Jiangning County is probably not even considered cannon fodder.

Su Tiancheng didn't think so much.

Zheng Keyou was indeed flexible. On the way to the Jiangning County Government Office, he was introducing the situation.

The county government of Jiangning County is six miles away from the Yamen of Shuntian Prefecture. It is located in the north of Nanjing City. Yuan County, the two big camps of Nanjing Jingying, are both in Jiangning County.

Shangyuan County looks like a political center, while Jiangning County looks like an economic center.

Jiangning County has a total of 110 clerks, including 37 clerks, 42 clerks, and the rest are clerks.As for the number of yamen servants, there are more than a thousand.

What Zheng Keyou meant, Su Tiancheng understood. In Shangyuan County, the county magistrate was more flexible, and it was easier to get promoted, but in Jiangning County, the magistrate was flexible, and making money was a trivial matter.

As for the number of clerks, the number of clerks and clerks is fixed. This is like the director and deputy director of the county hundreds of years later. More or less, some book offices have rosters on them, and some book offices can only be mastered by the county government.

The number of yamen servants depends on the actual situation in the county. The huge Jiangning County is also a land of Gyeonggi, and the security task is very heavy. It is not very realistic to rely on the inspection department's yamen. It is necessary to expand the team of yamen servants. Besides, Collection and payment of taxes is also the task of the yamen servants, and most of the county yamen's officials, clerks, and book offices will not do it in person.

What's interesting is that the scribes all had salaries, but the yamen servants had no salaries and lived on poor subsidies.

In a word, clerks are the official staff of the country, government servants are temporary workers, and all the hard work is done by temporary workers. If there is a problem, it is also the temporary workers who are responsible. This situation has continued for hundreds of years. , are almost the same, there is no big surprise, if you want to blame it, you can blame your own bad life.