As a salted fish, I was forced to become the teacher of all ages

Hua Manlou felt that for a future emperor who had not ascended the throne, it would not be harmful to know more about such things.

Sure enough, after only a few days in the yamen, Zhao Ren came to Hua Manlou again: "I found a problem, and there was more than one problem."

Looking at Zhao Ren with a serious face, Hua Manlou said with great interest, "Huh? Tell me?"

Zhao Ren sighed and said, "As you said, the cultivated land has gradually increased since the founding of Taizu, but the taxes in Lanzhou Prefecture have been decreasing year by year."

Hua Manlou smiled and said, "Have you found the reason?"

"Well." Zhao Ren nodded and said, "The main reason is that the cultivated land has gradually fallen into the hands of those who do not have to pay taxes. Let alone others, my Uncle Wang has gathered a lot of land over the years, some of which were bought. , Some are plundered by stealth, and some people donate their land to the palace, so that these lands have changed from tax payment to tax exemption. If this is the case in other places in Dazhao, then it is normal for the imperial court to decrease year by year."

Hua Manlou knew about this, and he knew it in great detail - now all the title deeds of the Yiduan Palace are in his hands, and he hasn't figured out how to deal with these things...

How about a judicial auction?

"That's not the biggest problem." Zhao Ren raised his head, looked at Hua Manlou gloomily and continued, "What's terrible is that the court has to raise taxes when it needs money urgently, but once taxes are raised, the burden will be huge." It fell on the people who still pay taxes. As a result, they became poorer and poorer, and even their income was not enough to pay taxes. In the end, they had to donate the land in their hands. Not to mention, the first emperor was in power When the tax was raised once, after that time, the tax of Lanzhou government was directly reduced by [-]% compared with previous years, this move is close to drinking poison to quench thirst... Come on, it’s no wonder that the emperor doesn’t raise taxes no matter how hard it is.”

Hua Manlou was not surprised that Zhao Ren could figure it out, so he didn't explain much, and continued to ask: "Well, everything is right, is there any other question?"

"Yes." Zhao Ren sighed: "There are also people who falsely report the acres of land... No, to be precise, in the 30 years since the founding of the Great Zhao Dynasty, many new cultivated lands have been reclaimed during this period, but the evidence for tax collection is still the same. It was the standard when the country was founded 30 years ago, and the newly reclaimed land was not included in the tax at all. Apart from these, some cultivated land was barren due to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and wars, but it was still recorded in the treasury, but this is There is no way to collect the tax, so the method of the local dog officials is to share it with other people..."

"Also, some fields are fertile and some are barren, but everyone pays the same tax. In this way, if there is a disaster year, the people with only a few acres of Susukida will not have enough harvest for themselves, which makes it even worse. Many people have to give their land to powerful people, but they themselves become tenants." Zhao Ren sighed with compassion: "In other words, Da Zhao's taxes are like sucking these poor people. blood, but people who really don’t care about taxes and such a small amount of money don’t pay a penny... This is not normal.”

Speaking of this, Zhao Ren looked at Huamanlou seriously and said: "If these things are not resolved, more and more people will not be able to survive, and when there is some natural disaster, if the relief is not effective, only someone Ascend and shout... Big Zhao is in danger, right?"

Hua Manlou applauded while applauding: "That's right, it's really not easy for you to understand this in two days."

In fact, even if Hua Manlou and Zhao Ren were to analyze it, they might not be able to explain it so comprehensively—for example, he had no idea that Da Zhao had never cleared the land since the founding of the country.

But it is not surprising that this kind of thing is true, and it is also reasonable. After all, the clearing of land damages the interests of the landlord class, and the agent of the landlord class in the court is the civil servant.But as far as that group of civil servants is concerned, who of them would do such a thankless thing that would cause them to bleed?

"What's the use of seeing clearly?" Zhao Ren said sadly, "And actually, many of the tricks are not from the library, but others told me..."

Hua Manlou asked in astonishment, "A person in the magistrate's yamen?"

Zhao Ren nodded and said: "Well, a small official, he helped me find something when I checked the information these few days, and then he said a few more words when I asked about the tax situation of Lanzhou Prefecture I don't touch these, so as not to offend people who shouldn't be offended."

Hua Manlou squinted his eyes: "This is really interesting."

On the surface, Zhao Ren was sent by Huamanlou to the magistrate's yamen, but anyone could see that Huamanlou's appointed person at this juncture was naturally his confidant, so this little official chatted with Zhao Ren about these things. The purpose of things is a bit intriguing.

You know, the truth of what Zhao Ren just said is too sensitive. If ordinary people dare to talk nonsense, they may end up decapitated. , so as not to be misunderstood by the group of civil officials in the DPRK and China that he wants to reform, and then a series of backlashes will be caused-isn’t it all about the counterattack of the conservative forces and their madness?

In other words, governing a big country is like cooking a small dish. Even if you want to clear up the land, you have to reform the land system step by step, instead of doing it with great fanfare from the beginning-this is not reform, but death.

So, is the little official who gave Zhao Ren a "lecture" so bold that he is not afraid of someone's revenge, or is he just too stupid to say this to someone he just met?Or, did he want to use Zhao Ren's mouth to tell Hua Manlou, the controller of Lanzhou Mansion, what he said?

600. Very good, very good

As far as the matter is concerned, it is not surprising that a small official can understand these things.

First of all, there is a concept that needs to be understood, that is: officials and officials are completely different things.

Under the Dazhao imperial examination system, the only way to become an official is the imperial examination—of course, this refers to civil servants—after passing a series of examinations such as the township examination, general examination, and palace examination, those who are on the list are qualified to be officials .

The top three in the palace examination are the well-known No. [-] Scholar, No. [-], and Tanhua, and then there are folks in Dazhao who call it the Tianbang and the Dibang.

In layman's terms, Tianbang is what people often say comes from a Jinshi background, and they are the proud sons of heaven. This group of people will enter the Imperial Academy or be sent to various ministries to watch politics. After three to five years of training, they will either enter the court to serve , or be devolved to the local government as chief officials—that is to say, after this group of people came out, the last time they came out, they were all magistrates, and they were also magistrates of Fuxian County.

The local list is also famous on the list, but this group of people is called Tongjinshi, and they are not qualified to observe politics. Generally speaking, they will be directly assigned to the local as second or miscellaneous officials, such as Tongzhi, county magistrates, etc. Some of them are such people, and their promotion channels are also assistant officials, such as the promotion from the county level to the state level, and the state level to the prefecture level.Of course, if they are lucky and have a strong background and good political achievements, they are also qualified to climb up. For example, Wen Yumin, the brother-in-law of Huamanlou, became the prefect of Tianjin in this way, and his future is equally promising.

In addition, after passing the provincial examination, scholars have the status of juren, and juren is theoretically a reserve official—this is what Fan Jinzhongju said. Being admitted to Juren is equivalent to having an official status.And generally speaking, some lucky juren have the opportunity to be an official, but the ascending channel...well, they don't have an ascending channel, and the miscellaneous officials are almost at the end.

So generally speaking, most of the officials come from the imperial examinations, which are exclusive to the group of people who really jumped over the dragon's gate. So if you hear someone boasting that they have a family of three Jinshi, it is really not an ordinary Xueba family. It is indeed something to be proud of.

But officials are different.

Essentially speaking, the group of inspectors, prison officials, officials, pawns, and masters are all officials. They are typical low-level officials. Most of them are appointed by local officials, and more than half of these people are not here. In the attendance book of the official department.

In this way, the quality of this group of people is quite uneven. Those who are good are quite good, and those who are not good are quite bad. But one thing can be confirmed: in the feudal era, some officials were more than good. The officials are much better.

Because, as the grassroots, the role played by the officials is very important, they are the main force connecting the past and the people with the common people - under normal circumstances, many ordinary people may never see a county magistrate in their entire lives, but the officials do From time to time you have to deal.

In the officialdom, I often deal with the common people and deal with the most basic local official affairs. In this way, if these officials have seen a lot, they will naturally know more, right?

On the other hand, the selection of candidates for the imperial examination, especially the imperial examination system developed to the period of stereotyped essays, most of the people who can be tested are those who don’t know what’s going on outside the window. When the examination questions are getting more and more biased and meaningless—— For example, the most disgusting and most disturbing kind of crap that selects half a sentence from each of the two paragraphs and asks the candidates to discuss it in stereotyped form-most people have gone to study this, who wants to get closer to reality and do practical work?

Such a deformed imperial examination system makes the vast majority of scholars have a situation where theory is divorced from reality, such as the group of candidates who were sent to Xishan by Huamanlou.Therefore, when this group of people started to become officials after the exam, there were many fools who delegated most of the official duties to the master and the officials below, but when they talked about government affairs, they knew nothing about it and were in a mess.

In such a comparison, aren't some officials more reliable than officials?

"I've said it a long time ago. There are problems with Da Zhao's imperial examinations. It should have been reformed long ago." Speaking of this matter, Zhao Ren was full of resentment.

As early as when he first met Hua Manlou, he was dissatisfied with the group of Hanlin in the East Palace and even viciously cursed the group of Chunfang scholars who gave him lectures.

The reason is not only because Zhao Ren's temper is too detached, nor is it just because the Hanlins force him to study, but in the final analysis, it is because Zhao Ren's consistent inquisitive nature and the Hanlins' fake big space that is divorced from reality are irreconcilable. Contradictions - just look at the topic of "Guanzi" that tells the truth and knows the honor and disgrace. I can tell him a thing or two, this...

I don't know whether it is the sorrow of Da Zhao or the sorrow of the imperial examination system.

"This is the second question I want to ask you." Zhao Ren said indignantly: "After I went to the prefect's yamen, I originally wanted to get some information from the prefects and fellow prefects who were in custody, but this The bastards actually don’t know the three questions! Heh, one magistrate and two co-prefects, isn’t it just asking three questions? But it’s not surprising that the little official can answer my questions? Huh, if I become emperor in the future, the first thing The thing is to reform the imperial examination!"

Looking at the irritable Zhao Ren, Hua Manlou felt that he was not well.

Although he asked Zhao Ren to go to the grassroots level, he wanted to let him see the situation of Da Zhao from the grassroots level, but the effect was frightening and immediate—although Zhao Ren once mentioned a few words about reforming the imperial examination, but at that time he It was never as decisive as it is today.

The two had been together for so long, Hua Manlou could tell when the brat was whining and joking, and when he really took things to heart.That is to say, as expected, Hua Manlou will assist Zhao Ren in various reform matters as the chief think tank after Zhao Ren ascended the throne. This matter...

How offending people?

"Ahaha..." Hua Manlou smiled dryly, hoping to get back to the topic: "So...then what, who is that little official you're talking about? What's his background?"

"He has no background. He is a scholar in the Lanzhou Prefecture. He failed several times and was extremely depressed. Later, he was favored by the previous prefect and became a civil servant in the prefect's yamen." Zhao Ren was also very angry when he mentioned this matter. Lai: "A scholar is more capable than a magistrate who was born as a Jinshi. Hmph, the imperial court has raised scholars for 30 years, and they have raised such a thing?"

Hua Manlou continued to drag the topic back: "In short, this person has ideas, you can use him when the time comes, and let him help you reform the land system..."

"He can't!" Zhao Ren waved his hand: "Based on Da Zhao's current situation, he would not be able to enter the imperial court as a high-ranking official even if he was a talented scholar. I think highly of him, even if he is forcibly promoted to the position of a cabinet scholar, there is no way for him to handle such important matters. Therefore, if you want to reuse this kind of capable people, you must either reform the imperial examination, or let him give advice behind the scenes This is the third question I want to tell you, it’s not that Zhao has no talents, it’s all a waste of money!”

At the end, Zhao Ren also found evidence for Hua Manlou: "It's like Song Jie, a talent, right? But if you hadn't brought him from the refugee camp to Xishanwei, he would have starved to death. Today? So we not only need to reform the imperial examinations, but also establish an effective talent selection system, what do you think?"

Hua Manlou covered his forehead: "Very good, very good..."

601. Tall Image

Some people's scripts are not injured at all, but if they move too many rocks, they will naturally hit their feet and get injured.

Huamanlou is such a certain person.

In terms of his heart, he just wanted Zhao Ren to honestly send people to explore mines, build carriages, build roads, and dump salt. Just like in Xishan, when Zhao Renzhi was sent to study things like hot air balloons and carriages, Huamanlou lived like an old cadre all day long, getting up early to hold a cup of tea in the sun and waiting for lunch, and going out for a walk in the afternoon to go to school. When I am in a good mood, I will talk about physics casually, and then take a stroll around Xishanwei. It will be dinner time, and the nightlife has just begun...

Cough, in short, you can't let the brat sit idle.

But who would have thought that things would turn into such a virtue after being cheap for no reason?

Take a look at what the bear child will do after he wakes up: land reform, bureaucratic reform, and imperial examination reform. This is almost all the drawbacks of the feudal dynasty. Some people have spent half their lives without changing one of them. , Even if he dominated the court during his lifetime and claimed to be a regent, he failed, and he was still liquidated after his death...

Zhang Juzheng: Does it contain me?

As far as the matter is concerned, although the old Zhangtou's whip method in the past seems to be still on the ground, it is basically playing the feudal system. After the change, it has saved some wealth for the Ming Dynasty. Continued Several years of Guozuo, otherwise, where did Emperor Wanli get the confidence of the three major campaigns?

But here is the problem, Zhang Juzheng spent half his life to get a part of things done, Huamanlou is really not arrogant enough to surpass Mr. Jiangling - to be reasonable, he can toss so many things only by relying on The experience of the previous life and the trust of the emperor, but the Jiangling Party dominated the court at that time, is there any difference...

Let's put it this way, people bring the court to do things together, and the world dare not refuse to follow an order. If Hua Manlou wants to touch these things, he must at least take the court car first--don't you see that Nie Wenbing would have killed him? Does he have to go out of Beijing to fight the Japanese pirates?In case other people swarmed up, wouldn't it be necessary to recruit the Indians on the other side of the earth?

What Zhao Ren wanted to do was not like what Huamanlou had done before. Those things basically didn't bother others—for example, the matter of shipping, it was almost equivalent to him bringing everyone together in the name of Emperor Guangxing. Engaged in 'smuggling', and killed a group of particularly shameless people at that time, which is a typical example of pulling a group to fight a group and unite a group. This not only did not block the way for most people to make money, but even regulated the industry By the way, security forces are provided, this kind of thing is not a change.

It is quite different from the business tax collected by the traders on the grasslands. This is the meaning. After all, the Oala consecration started from Huamanlou, and the Tatars also started the trade after some tribes surrendered after Tuotuobuhuahang, so he has Power sets the rules—Shanxi merchants who do not abide by the rules are also dealt with in batches, and the remaining people are not only given trading rights, but also large coal orders, so they dare to ruin the market If you don't need to spend a lot of money, these vested interests can kill him.

But the shitty things Zhao Ren wants to do...

The land reform moved the interests of the entire landlord class, and the reform of the bureaucracy and the imperial examinations moved the interests of all the scholars. These people simply had no way to unite a group of people, and more importantly, Zhao Ren himself also Included in the group of people who were reformed—is there any king in the world, his Zhao family is the biggest landlord...

In addition, if reforms are to be made, Zhao Ren's beating nature will definitely not allow Hua Manlou to give advice behind the scenes, and his identity does not allow him to be the mastermind behind Zhao Ren's generation—anyone can see , once Zhao Ren takes over, Huamanlou will naturally become the leader of all officials. Even if he is idle at home, no one dares to take his words seriously, so...

Hua Manlou felt that his future was so dark that he couldn't see his fingers.

"So, do you think it's better for him to give up his mind, or to distract him?" Huamanlou found Qi Wanrong, and after analyzing the above things, he hoped that his daughter-in-law could give him some inspiration. , maybe I can struggle to the death.

Right now, Wen Liang is still guarding the house in Xishan, and there is no one else to discuss with Huamanlou, so she can only pull Qi Wanrong and say - compared to Miss Baimao and Jiu'er, Miss Qi has a sense of politics anyway, For example, she had a very eye-catching performance when she first fell in love with Wala.

But Qi Wanrong listened for a while, and said with a puzzled expression: "Why do you want His Highness to give up his mind? Isn't that good?"

Hua Manlou was extremely shocked: "Is this good? Where is this?"

Qi Wanrong said: "My father said long ago that Da Zhao's civil servants are too arrogant and should be dealt with. Besides, what Your Highness is going to do is also taught by you?"

Hua Manlou was even more shocked: "When did I... teach him this?"

"Didn't you always tell people that knowledge and action should be united?" Qi Wanrong said with a natural expression, "Don't say it is His Highness right now, even the group of nerds in Xishan think you are right. Before we left Beijing, the group of people still What are you doing to increase productivity? Didn’t you teach this? My father told me before that His Majesty takes your stuff very seriously, and also looks down on those civil servants who only know how to talk in general. It is said that His Majesty also intends to change the imperial examination depending on the situation, is this also influenced by you?"

Hua Manlou stared straight in the eyes: "I just said that..."

Qi Wanrong gave Hua Manlou a blank look, and continued: "That's why I said that there is nothing wrong with His Highness having ambitions. Your family's surname Wen said in a chat before that people like you are the best to meet His Majesty and Your Highness." The situation is good, and compared to His Majesty, Your Highness is a better partner with you. It may be a well-known story of monarchs and ministers in history. She also said that if you follow His Highness's previous temperament, I am afraid that Da Zhao will have a good time. The absurd lord of state affairs..."

Hua Manlou's eyes widened: "No, she dares to say that?"

"Women in the family chatter casually, who will take it seriously if it spreads out?" Qi Wanrong rolled her eyes and continued: "In short, the more ambitious your Highness is, the better you will be. On the contrary, if your Highness only knows how to play and play , I guess you will either have to spend time at home, or you can only be a minister of power."

The words are easy to understand, and the truth is right. If someone like Huamanlou really meets an absurd and tyrannical emperor, or a suspicious emperor who plays with balance, I'm afraid he won't be able to stand up at all—for example, Ruohua If it was Zhu Yuanzhang who met Manlou, do you think he would dare to turn him into a smuggler?Do you dare to cooperate with the prince to fabricate the imperial decree?

In the end, Qi Wanrong concluded: "Your Highness wants to do it, you just help him, why do you want to do so much?"

Huamanlou wants to cry but has no tears.

602. Understand?

Hua Manlou had never realized that his image in his wife's heart was so tall. After Qi Wanrong said this, he realized that he seemed to have found the wrong person to consult.

In fact, it makes sense to think about it: Qi Wanrong watched him go all the way from Waramang to Japanese pirates and then to Tumote, and Huamanlou should have been "credited" for not being a salted fish; Jiu'er seems to be meeting Before, she thought that he was someone who could change the world, so she agreed to be his guard; Wen Liang was even more so, and if she hadn't thought that Hua Manlou was really talented, Miss Wen would have married him. It is estimated that there will not be too many intersections.

Even Miss Baimao refused to open her heart at first, for fear of delaying Huamanlou's future. From this, it can be seen that the Hua family can be described as...

Huo Gang's big shock?

For men, this is a great blessing, and Hua Manlou thinks there is nothing wrong with it, but for the sake of Fu Gang, he has to go all out and fight wits and bravery with those old men in the court hall, Hua Manlou thinks it is true Not worth it.

After all, everyone is now married into the Hua family, so what if the husband is weak?Divorce is not in the mood these days, and Huamanlou has long since given up on his idea of ​​being a skinny horse, so in the end, at most, he is hiding his private money everywhere, what else can he do?

But the problem is that his mouth is already low, and things have already happened, so the most urgent thing is to find a way to bring Zhao Ren's mind back, at least not let him continue to go to the government office. Go to the government office to do some work, and after a few days, let's not talk about the local bullshit, but the unspoken rules in the officialdom, such as ice, charcoal, and fire.

By the way, the so-called two respects for ice, charcoal, and fire refer to the gray income that is customary in Da Zhao's officialdom, which is much higher than the salary issued by the court.In terms of handling, a little experienced teacher can make the local accounts stable, so that some unconscionable chief officials are as tall as nine feet when they arrive, and there is no problem on the surface. .

So after understanding these things, Zhao Ren was so angry that he almost lost his temper. When he came back, he almost forged an imperial decree on the spot and chopped up the three who had already been imprisoned.

What made Huamanlou heave a sigh of relief was that the matter of prospecting had gradually taken shape, and several technical consultants had also come to the capital, so Zhao Ren's attention could finally be attracted.

Now that he was in this situation, Hua Manlou felt that as long as he got through this period of time and distracted Zhao Ren with other things, maybe he would forget about it. Naturally, the expensive ones can't be the expensive ones, so how can Zhao Ren keep these stupid things in mind?

Besides, Emperor Guangxing is still at the peak of his age, so Zhao Ren is not sure how many years he will have to be the prince, and what Xiongzi said is that he will do those stupid things after he comes to power... Anyway, Huamanlou feels that he still has a lot of time. save.

But he never expected that Huamanlou was attacked by an unexpected backstab: the capital is coming.

There were several groups of visitors, one of which was acquaintances, so Hua Manlou met them first.

The acquaintances were Huamanlou's brothers Qi Pengfei and Qi Pengwu who still insisted on calling him brother Qi even after their wedding. Since these two guys came back from fighting against the Japanese, they asked someone to bring him things from time to time, ranging from antiques to Everything from medicinal materials to wild game was included, which made Huamanlou very uncomfortable. After repeatedly promising that they would definitely treat Qi Wanrong well, the two changed their style - they invited Huamanlou to visit the kiln instead. What did two hundred and five think.

Although Huamanlou never agreed once, after all, he has been busy like a dog for more than half a year, and even ran to rescue him on the day of his wedding, but after several times, Huamanlou finally couldn't take it anymore, and revealed the matter skillfully I gave it to Qi Wanrong, and then...

I heard that these two people have been recuperating at home for several months, and I don't know whether such a brutal thing was done by Mr. Ying or Mrs. Guo.

They met again after a few months. They didn't know whether they really didn't know that Huamanlou was telling the truth or they were pretending not to know, but they were very enthusiastic on the surface. After the house was seated, Hua Manlou asked cheerfully: "Why don't you send someone to report first? Wanrong went out to hunt early this morning... But speaking of it, there is nothing foolish about this Lanzhou mansion. Why did you come here?"

Qi Pengfei patted his thigh: "Who said it wasn't? But if you didn't do it so beautifully, how could the two of us come here?"

"Me?" Hua Manlou asked strangely, "How did you say that?"

Qi Pengwu smiled wryly and said: "You... my dear brother, you first broke the siege of the capital, and then galloped back to the Lanzhou Prefecture to retreat from the army of King Yiduan, and captured tens of thousands of Tumets. There are many, so..."

"So our life is not easy." Qi Pengfei also continued with a sigh of relief: "I'm not saying that you didn't handle this matter properly, we nobles have not been doing well in recent years, and we always let that A group of sour villains look down on you, and now you can be regarded as embarrassing for us..."

"You didn't see it, how many people in the court gave you credit when the news came back!" Qi Pengwu said with an aggrieved face: "It was originally a universal celebration, but I don't know which bastard scolded his son when he left the court!" I don't know how to make progress, and then when my father came home that day, his face was completely dark..."

Huamanlou realized.

Isn't this the Da Zhao version of "other people's children"?

Hua Manlou gave a dry cough, and suppressed his gloating: "It's because of this that the two of you were sent here?"