Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 553 Formation of the Navy
Zeng Yiyi bowed and gave a salute: "My lord, quarreling with others is based on reason. The imperial court has laws and regulations, and the people below should follow the rules. Why do you want to reject the lower officials?"

Li Jing said with a smile: "You said they didn't follow the rules. You don't have paperwork and seals. They won't let you move in. It shouldn't be considered a violation of the rules, right?"

Zeng Yiyi shook his head: "Although I don't have documents and seals, my official status is not fake. Isn't it considered official duty for a subordinate official to go to Beijing to wait for orders? If your lord says it's not, then the subordinate official has nothing to say. "

Li Jingjing nodded with a smile and said, "It's natural that you are on official business when you go to Beijing to wait for orders."

Zeng Yiyi said: "Since it is an official business, the next official has the right to stay in the post house."

Li Jing smiled: "I can't tell who you are right and wrong in this matter. From the perspective of the post office, they seem to be doing the right thing, and what you said is also reasonable. If there is something wrong, then It’s just that the posthouse system is not perfect.”

"Ah!" Zeng Yiyi couldn't help being startled when he heard Li Jing blame the fault on the flawed system.

Li Jing smiled and continued: "Don't be surprised. In fact, I know that the officials received by the posthouse are often not on official business, but they have reasonable reasons to explain. But you should be regarded as official business, but There are reasonable reasons for not allowing you to stay, obviously, this is a loophole in the system of the post house."

"Your Excellency has learned a lesson." Zeng Yiyi hurriedly said.

Li Jing sighed softly and said: "Today you are arguing with the people in the post house, which revealed that there are problems with the system of the post house. Over time, you can find out and make up for it, so if you were wronged today, please don't care about it."

Zeng Yiyi pondered for a while and said: "My lord, forgive my humble opinion. Since your lord has discovered the shortcomings of the post house, you should find a way to make up for it. How can you let it go? You know, the money used by the post house is the money of the national treasury. Daming’s finances are inherently difficult, how can we let the following people spend as much as they want?”

Li Jing smiled and said: "What you said makes sense, but you still have to consider the current situation of the court officials. For example, you, you only brought a book boy, and you took a bullock cart from Jiangxi to Nanjing, so you can see that your Living conditions are not very good.

There are many officials like you, and some of them may not be as good as you.I doubt that if the post house does not allow these people to stay for free, can these people make it to the capital? Even if they can make it to the capital, I don’t know how long it will take. time consuming?I say that, do you understand what I mean? "

"Yes! Your Excellency is sympathetic to your subordinates, and has good intentions." Zeng Yiyi hurriedly said.

Li Jing waved his hand: "A bad government cannot be cured in a day. If you want to rectify the bad government, you must first know where the bad government is, and then start from the root cause. Mr. Zeng, you have been in the local area for a long time and are familiar with grassroots government affairs. In your opinion, how can we be politically clear?" ?”

Zeng Yiyi pondered for a while and said: "If you want to be politically clear, the first thing is to rule by officials. The country's endowments are with the people, and the people's rest is with the officials. If there is honesty and thrift, the people will not be harmed. Integrity, politics can be clear."

Li Jingwen said with a smile: "Master Zeng, in fact, many people understand this truth. The key is how to do it, how to make officials keep clean?"

Zeng Yiyi said: "Your Excellency, increasing the salaries of officials and letting the court bear the official expenses of officials is the way to solve this problem."

Li Jing shook his head: "High salaries can only solve a small part of the problem. We all know that many officials do not want to be greedy. They only start to be greedy because of insufficient salaries and heavy burdens. High salaries can only prevent these people from being greedy. But there are many others. People, no matter how much money is given to them, they are not satisfied, how can these people be kept clean?"

"This requires severe punishment and strict laws. We must not be lenient towards such officials. One by one is found and investigated and dealt with. Your lord has done a good job in this regard." Zeng Jiuyi said.

Li Jing smiled, pointed to the chair and said, "Sit down and talk."

Zeng Yiyi breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the words, knowing that Li Jing, who knew what he had done, was quite satisfied.

Ordering Xiaojiu to pour a cup of tea for Zeng Yiyi, Li Jing continued: "Actually, these are only palliative measures, and cannot solve the problem from the root."

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "If you want to solve the problem from the root, you have to start from the ideological point of view. Almost all our officials study, take the imperial examination, and then they are appointed to official positions. They have never received ideological education. After becoming an official, they can Whether they can guarantee integrity depends entirely on their own moral cultivation.

Obviously, the imperial court did not know the details of the appointment of such officials, and had to wait until problems arose before dealing with them.That is to say, our harsh punishment law was done after the fact, and we did not do the work beforehand. "

Zeng Yiyi pondered for a while and said, "Your Excellency, you mean that the officials should be educated before taking office?"

Li Jingjing nodded: "That's it. Since our officials have to learn how to handle government affairs before taking office, why don't we educate them on their virtues?"

"The imperial court doesn't seem to have such a department, right?" Zeng Yiyi slapped his head violently as he said this: "My lord said that, so I'm planning to set up such a department."

Li Jing smiled and nodded.

Zeng Yiyi looked at Li Jing, and said cautiously: "My lord, forgive me for speaking bluntly. The position of the lower official is humble. Why do you want to discuss such a big matter with the lower official?"

Li Jing smiled and said: "Hehe, I have seen your resume. You have served as a county magistrate for several years. His self-cultivation is also excellent, and he is the perfect candidate for training officials."

"Your Excellency, you want to step down to train officials? The low-level officials speak lightly, and I'm afraid they won't be able to take on such a heavy responsibility." Zeng Yiyi hurriedly said.

Li Jing shook his head and smiled, "It's not for you to train officials, but for you to train quasi-officials. I asked you to do this because you are soft-spoken and have no background."

When Zeng Jiuyi heard the words, he suddenly realized something.

Seeing that Zeng Yiyi understood what he meant, Li Jing continued with a smile: "This matter cannot be done by you alone, and I still need to select some officials like you. As for you, there are a few things to do from now on.

First of all, you organize the responsibilities, powers, and what the grassroots officials should do and how to do these things into a book, and then find some articles on morality and conduct and compile them into a book. Some disposal and penalty regulations are also compiled into books, and these are the things you will teach those candidate officials in the future. "

Zeng Yiyi nodded: "The next official will start preparing after returning."

Li Jing smiled: "Go back? Where are you going? You don't need to go back, you go back to Beijing with me."

Zeng Jiuyi was overjoyed when he heard the words: "Thank you, my lord."

Li Jing waved his hand: "You don't need to thank me, you just need to do your best. After next spring, I will hold a talent ceremony again. At that time, these selected people will be handed over to you for education. After half a year of education, they will be released to work. In the future, I will assess these people, and their assessment results are your assessment results, do you understand?"

"My subordinate understands." Zeng Yiyi hurriedly said.

Li Jingjing nodded, turned to Xiaojiu and said, "Take Mr. Zeng to rest."

Zeng Yiyi hurriedly got up: "I will take my leave."

Li Jing smiled and waved his hand.

After Zeng Yiyi left, Zhang Tongchang and Wen Qing looked at each other, and they got up at the same time and walked to Li Jing. After saluting, Zhang Tongchang smiled and said, "Commander, Jingzhi and I have drawn up a charter. No time to look at it."

"Oh? What rules?" Li Jing smiled.

Zhang Tongchang said with a smile: "It was the commander who asked Jingzhi and me to prepare the charter for forming the navy."

"Oh? You two finished it? So fast? Let me have a look." Li Jing suddenly said.

Zhang Tongchang hurriedly took out a few pieces of paper from his sleeve and handed them to Li Jing.

Li Jing took it and looked at it carefully.

After reading it, Li Jing frowned slightly.

Seeing Li Jing frowning, Zhang Tongchang said in a low voice: "The students have little knowledge, if the commander-in-chief thinks it's inappropriate, please criticize and correct me."

Li Jing was startled when he heard the words, looked up at Zhang Tongchang and Wen Qing, shook his head with a smile, and said, "The charter you drafted is very good, but it looks like a lot of work. In fact, you can write these things out in a very simple way." , making it obvious.”

"Using a simple method? The students are dull, so please ask the commander-in-chief for advice." Zhang Tong said openly.

Li Jing smiled: "Bring a pen and paper here."

Hearing this, Zhang Tongchang hurriedly fetched a pen and paper, and then spread the paper to grind it.

Li Jing dipped his pen in ink, then pointed to the charter drafted by Zhang Tongchang and said: "This charter is too complicated to write, and it looks very tiring. You see, these departments you drafted belong to the university. Governor's Mansion, then..."

As he spoke, Li Jing drew a box on the paper with a pen, and filled in the words Da Du Du Fu in the box.

Then draw a few straight lines under the box, and draw a box under each line, and fill in the military and political department, the staff department, the logistics department, and the equipment department respectively.

"Huh? This is..." Zhang Tongchuan and Wen Qing seemed to understand something.

Li Jing smiled and said: "The five major military regions of the army and the navy are all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Military Affairs, so..."

As he spoke, Li Jing picked up his pen and drew two lines under the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs, and two boxes under the lines, filling in the words Ministry of War and Ministry of Navy.Then I painted it again under the other three departments.

"I just drew it briefly to give a general idea, but after reading it, you two should be able to understand what it means?" After finishing the painting, Li Jing smiled.

"Understood, I understand. If the commander-in-chief is clever, he can draw what we wrote on half a sheet of paper with a few simple strokes." Zhang Tongchang nodded repeatedly.

Li Jing smiled. In fact, the cabinet should also be marked, because there are several departments under the cabinet that are closely related to the departments under the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, so these departments should also be marked.

"The commander-in-chief is talking about the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Industry?" Zhang Tongchang asked.

Li Jingjing nodded: "This is for checks and balances. It is up to the cabinet and the Ministry of War to decide whether to fight or not. How to fight is up to the Metropolitan Governor's Office. In addition, the money and food must be allocated by the Ministry of Finance to the Logistics Department, which puts shackles on the army. Without this lock, the army would be difficult to control."

(End of this chapter)