Not only does Enke have to do it, but he also has to keep it flowing.
When he said this, all the important officials present changed their expressions.
Enko is just a favor outside the rules and regulations of the court. It is okay to do it occasionally, but it cannot be done continuously. If it continues like this, it will not be enko and it will become the norm.
Your Majesty is so hasty. As an important official of the imperial court, you should stop it.
But looking at the people present, Jian Yi, the most important official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, had lowered his eyebrows and said nothing.
Yes, Lao Xia Gui is smart. According to this suggestion, he should examine the performance of all officials and then distribute subsidies according to the situation... This is a good thing.
Subsidy is not about the amount, but that once someone has it and you don't have it, or you have much less than others, it would be embarrassing.
There is no doubt that if this rule continues, the courtiers will definitely be busy for a while.
The most important political achievement at the moment is finance and taxation, which is to replenish the national treasury.
Wouldn't it be a great thing to have so many people working for the Ministry of Household Affairs?
And after firmly taking the position of Minister of the Ministry of Finance, Xia Yuanji gradually discovered that the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue should work with the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel to jointly lead the officials.
You can't just say that the Heavenly Official of the Ministry of Personnel is the head of the hundred officials. He, the Earth Official of the Ministry of Hubu, should also be ranked alongside the Ministry of Personnel. After all, heaven and earth are put together.
Xia Yuanji has always been generous in expanding his power.
Of course, he wouldn't say it out loud, after all, this kind of Enke was really hated by the literati.
The pressure came to Song Li, the Minister of Rites, because after all, he was the official in charge of the imperial examination.
After hesitating again and again, Song Li stood up and said, "Your Majesty, there are many senior officials among the envoys this time. It is not surprising that they can put forward some suggestions. Most of the new scholars are ordinary scholars.
It is reasonable that they are not familiar with the government affairs of the imperial court, and such an examination is not fair."
Unfair!
Zhu Di suddenly smiled and said, "I said that talents were buried, but the Song Qing family said that the palace examination was unfair. Do you want all the Qing families to comment together and see who is right between you and me?"
Song Li trembled with fright and broke out in a cold sweat, "I never dare to compare myself with Your Majesty. I am just worried that I will spoil the important matter of recruiting talents. I hope Your Majesty will learn from it!"
Zhu Di just snorted coldly and didn't say much.
Xu Jingchang smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I think what Song Shangshu said is indeed reasonable. On the one hand, it is an old official, and on the other hand, it is a fledgling scholar who has not been deeply involved in the world. It is certainly unreasonable to compare them together... I just think
I would like to ask the Minister of the Song Dynasty, if this is the case, why can the imperial examination only select a group of young people who can only study?"
Song Li's face turned green. He was questioning the entire meeting.
Xu Jingchang's ability to make trouble is getting stronger and stronger.
"Ding Guogong, new scholars have to go to various ministries to observe the government before they can be assigned official positions. Those outstanding people who are selected into the Hanlin Academy have to serve in the Hanlin Academy for several years, or even ten years... When you are in the General Administration Department, you should know these things
.”
Xu Jingchang smiled and said: "I do know these things, but I remember that some top three Jinshi were directly sent to the county magistrate. I would like to ask Song Shangshu, can a scholar who is not deeply involved in the world directly become a county magistrate? Or perhaps Song Shangshu thought,
The county magistrate is a minor official and insignificant? I remember we had discussed it before. When many people faced the emperor, they said that the emperor did not know some things and that they had to rely on the help and advice of the officials to help the country. The result, we have to ask
The officials know much more than the emperor, but they can't tell, especially the officials below. Many of them rely on various masters to help with official affairs. They have two different faces, which is really puzzling."
It's an old matter again. Do you plan to directly recruit the master to be the county magistrate?
Looking at it now, doesn’t the so-called Enke mean to give the master a way to become a county magistrate?
After going around in a big circle, the original joke was actually succeeded by Xu Jingchang.
This guy is really persistent.
Zhu Di was quite interested when he heard it... The government affairs of the court are complicated, so it is no problem to select some outstanding young people and let them slowly observe the politics and learn. After more than ten years of experience, they can take on some important responsibilities.
However, it would be a bit hasty for local governments to directly send new academicians.
After four years of peace, Zhu Di has a deep understanding of the value of low-level officials.
Those capable county magistrates can not only supply military supplies, but also organize people to farm, without delaying both.
However, there are many useless local officials, the people cannot be recruited, food cannot be delivered, the local people's livelihood is still in a mess, many people are fleeing, and ten houses are empty.
The magistrate of the county is Bailihou, the great master of the common people.
It won’t work if we don’t send some capable people!
Zhu Di had a vague idea. Enke must persevere and try to select some people to enrich the place. Only in this way can he truly implement his ideas... If you want to do big things, you can't do it without people!
This time around Enke, there are really too many things worthy of consideration.
Seeing the emperor's heart pounding, the courtiers were afraid of saying something shocking again, especially Jian Yi, who had to step forward and said, "Your Majesty, some people are good at doing things, and some are good at mobilizing people. The employment of people in the local area is not a small matter, why not think about it in the long term? At this moment,
It is better to sort out the rankings of the palace examination as soon as possible and tell the world. This is also a great joy for the imperial court. Next, we have to arrange the official positions of these new scholars. There are so many things and no carelessness is allowed."
Jian Yi's words made sense. Xu Jingchang made some calculations and concluded that he had already achieved a complete victory in this imperial examination. He would first get the fruits of victory and then continue to attack the city.
Not only him, Xie Jin also thought so.
After all, they were too lonely. After a lot of calculations, they came up with the "Four Ugly", which showed that their strength was too weak. At least they had to be 40 or 400 Ugly!
The next grading went relatively smoothly. Everyone knew what Zhu Di liked.
Anyone who can put forward useful suggestions will be ranked high. The more practical it is, the more Zhu Di will appreciate it...
But at the end of the marking, there were two papers, which made it difficult to choose.
One of them belonged to Zeng Qi.
Zhu Di held it in his hand. Frankly speaking, his first impression was that he wanted to be the number one pick.
Really, impeccable!
But when he saw the content, he shook his head again.
"It's a cliché, it's a cliché! A new scholar is so sluggish. Could it be that all his energy has been drained away by going through the imperial examinations?"
"Such a person, I..."
Zhu Di wanted to be deposed, but he couldn't bear to throw away the paper.
Xu Jingchang took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, this person's literary talent is more than enough to enter the Hanlin Academy. He also ranked high in the joint examination and is the best in this subject. Although the suggestions are cliché, they still have merit.
.”
Regarding Xu Jingchang, Zhu Di thought about it and let it go.
It was just the next test paper that gave everyone a hard time.
This man's advice on financial management, judging from the first half of the article, is quite Confucian in style.
He said that there is a certain amount of wealth in the world. If the court takes more, the people will get less... At first glance, everyone thought that he was trying to persuade the emperor to take corvees lightly and rest with the people. It was another old Confucian trick.
But then he said, if China gains more, the barbarians will suffer more!
This sentence can be called a series of strange peaks, suddenly bringing it to a whole new realm.
It turns out that he said that the world's wealth has a certain amount. This world includes the Ming Dynasty and the barbarians, not just the Central Plains.
The two parties in the game are not the court and the people, but China and foreign countries!
So his idea is to sell more foreign things, especially expensive things, and buy less foreign things, especially those valuable treasures... The country should focus its energy on hoarding gold and silver.
This line of thinking is exactly what mercantilism advocates.
Looking at the signature on the paper, it is not an outsider; Xu Qin!
Zhu Di's eyes lit up, this guy has something special!
Zhu Di couldn't help but said: "Dear gentlemen, please tell me. He said that the world's wealth has a certain amount, the Central Plains will gain more, and the barbarians will suffer more... Does this make sense? Why did he only focus on the world's wealth in the past?
Daming, what’s the truth?”
What's the point?
Don’t think about making progress!
In fact, in the entire agricultural society, the accumulation of wealth is very slow. Natural and man-made disasters occur at every turn. Even if you fight for years and accumulate some wealth, it can easily be burned by a fire.
Therefore, Confucianism cannot be wrong in believing that the world's wealth is immutable.
In this matter, the experience of industrial society cannot be used to measure agricultural society... Even in later generations, some elderly people are extremely frugal and are reluctant to spend any money. They do not throw away their clothes when they are torn, and they are reluctant to use air conditioners after they buy them.
I really can't blame them. After all, for many elderly people, they were still in the agricultural era in the first half of their lives, and they entered the industrial era in the second half of their lives. It is understandable that they are not used to it.
The beauty of Xu Qin's article is that he acknowledges Confucianism. You are right...but the conclusion is wrong. You can't just persuade the emperor to be frugal and to be light on corvee and light on gifts.
You should think of ways to make money from outside and fight for the interests of Ming Dynasty.
This is what you should do.
This set of ideas he made was inexplicably consistent with the proposal to go to the West... Zhu Di was elated and clapped his hands in applause.
"Xu Jingchang, your brother's skills are no worse than yours!"
Xu Jingchang didn't care and said with a smile: "Your Majesty has a keen eye for knowing people. This is also the Xu family's luck."
They were satisfied, but the courtiers frowned.
"Your Majesty, Si Yi is a barbaric and smoky land, and there is not much wealth to speak of. Taking wealth overseas is no less than seeking fish from a tree. I think it is better to focus on the Central Plains, work hard to govern, and enrich the country.
Prospering the people is the right way."
Zhu Di looked up and saw that it was Guo Zi, the censor of Zuodu, who was speaking. He smiled and said: "What you said makes sense. I can't say for the moment whether there is any wealth overseas... Well, this year will be the official voyage to the West.
On that day, I appointed you as the imperial envoy and asked Zheng He to be your deputy. How about you go to sea and see with your own eyes whether there is any wealth, and then come back and tell me?"
