At noon, Chen Qing once again invited the three political officials to Qingfeng Tea House for dinner and tea.
After dinner, Chen Qing took a sip of tea and asked with a smile: "How prepared are you for the imperial examination?"
Jiang Yanxian smiled and said: "It's almost done. It will be officially held in seven days. This year, more than 100,000 scholars will participate in the imperial examination, which is the largest number in history. However, most of them are participating in the Ming Jing Ke. The main reason is that we promulgated last year that
If you are a ninth-grade official, if you pass the Ming Jing Ke, you will have the opportunity to serve as an escort, and you will enter the official career. The next step is to take the Industrial and Mathematical Examination, and if you pass the Industrial and Mathematical Science, you can take up the newly created county worker position."
Chen Qing frowned, "There are qualifications for being appointed as a superintendent and a county worker. You must have been in politics in the county or state government for more than five years. Has it been made clear?"
"I have made it clear that passing the exam is only a qualification, and you must have sufficient qualifications before you can hold the position. Moreover, completing your studies at Taixue is also regarded as being admitted to the engineering and computing major. I have made it clear."
"There is also a system of medicine!"
Chen Qing knocked on the table and asked: "Has the agricultural and industrial system examination that I arranged last year been carried out normally?"
"Everything is going smoothly, there are many people taking the exam, and the results won't be available until the fall!"
Zhou Kuan smiled and said: "Actually, His Highness's reforms don't need to be so urgent. They can be slower, take longer, and make changes unconsciously. It will be more calm, and everyone will be more accepting of it."
Chen Qing was stunned and asked in confusion: "Is there something that is difficult for everyone to accept now?"
Zhou Kuan said lightly: "It's not unacceptable! It's just that 100,000 people came to participate in the imperial examination, and the Ming Jing Ke and the Industrial and Mathematical Section lowered the threshold for the imperial examination."
Chen Qing looked at Zhou Kuan and said, "Old Zhou, tell the truth. Do you have any objections to the two official positions of superintendent and county worker?"
Zhou Kuan nodded, "It raises the status of the custodian, blurs the boundaries between officials and officials, and adds a county worker, which seems to add a little more expertise. In fact, it makes the officialdom at the county level more chaotic, more strife, and factional struggles more intense."
, it can be said that His Highness’s two slap-on-the-head decisions have shaken the foundation of local officialdom.”
Chen Qing felt a bit harsh when he heard it, and said with a sullen face: "Isn't it a good thing that professional things should be done by professionals? If we have to let laymen lead the experts, everything will end up in a mess."
Zhou Kuan was not afraid, and faced his lord's sharp gaze and said: "This is what your Highness takes for granted. Whether things are done well or not does not depend on whether the officials understand it or not. Officials do not need to understand. As long as the craftsmen are selected well and the money is raised enough,
The rest is left to the craftsmen.
Now that there is an extra county worker, Your Highness thinks he can get things done? What can he do if the county magistrate does not allocate money and food? Why does the county magistrate not allocate money and food? There are a thousand and ten thousand reasons, all of which are annoying.
There is nothing to say, the most indispensable thing in officialdom is reasons."
Jiang Yanxian quickly winked at Zhou Kuan and told him not to be so tough. Jiang Yanxian said tactfully: "His Highness attaches great importance to industry and commerce and agriculture, and always hopes to increase food production so that the people can have enough food and the population can grow. We fully understand these.
In fact, all local officials want to achieve political achievements and attach great importance to agricultural technology. Once a new agricultural technology comes out, everyone will rush to promote it in their county. Your Highness will know it just by looking at the promotion of corn. Almost all counties in the northern part of Shaanxi Road
They are planting a lot of corn, and officials are more active than the people. There are also pumpkins. Officials from all over the country are queuing up to ask for pumpkin seeds. Everyone knows that they have a large yield, can be stored, and are a good helper to tide over the disaster years, but some
Things really don’t need to be so urgent, as too much urgency will only backfire.”
"Is Jiang participating in political affairs also talking about county workers?" Although Jiang Yanxian said it very implicitly, Chen Qing still understood.
Jiang Yan nodded first, "This is actually a question of responsibility. In the past, agriculture was the responsibility of the county magistrate. The county magistrate had the unshirkable responsibility. If he had the power, he could get things done. Now the county magistrate doesn't care. Agriculture is the responsibility of the county workers.
When something goes wrong, the county workers are also responsible. County workers need money but no money, and they need people and no one. Nothing can be done. They can't borrow cattle for spring plowing, can't raise money for digging wells, and can't recruit people to build farmland and water conservancy. Your Highness
, The existence of county workers actually takes away part of the power of the county magistrate. Which county magistrate would be happy? If it is the county magistrate's own confidant, it will be easy to handle, but if it is appointed by the Ministry of Personnel, things will be messed up."
Zhang Xiao also said: "Your Highness, I have to say a few words for my humble position to improve the status of the Chief of Staff. Your Highness's original intention is to let the imperial court control the county more deeply, but in fact! The Chief of Staff is appointed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which means it is separated.
Due to the power of the county magistrate and the county magistrate, the official struggle in the county has become fierce. Everyone is busy fighting, building relationships, and looking for backers. Who cares about the life and death of the people?
More importantly, improving the status of the custodians actually creates conditions for local wealthy families to reach out to the county government. Most of the custodians are children of wealthy families! If they have real power, they must take care of the interests of the wealthy families and erode the interests of ordinary people. In the past,
They are appointed by the county magistrate. If they do too much, the county magistrate will balance it out. But now they have the support of officials and wealthy families. In fact, they are just empty county magistrates and magistrates. Your Highness, and subordinate officials are in power. It is definitely not a good thing!
"
The carriage left Qingfeng Tea House and walked slowly on the streets of the city. Chen Qing had been deep in thought.
The problem of local government has always been a big problem that is difficult to solve in the past dynasties, especially in empires with vast territories. In an era when transportation and communication were inconvenient, local government has always been in a semi-independent state. Even if they are officials in different places, the county magistrates in various places are very difficult to solve.
It is easy to be controlled by local gentry and become their vassal.
This has been the case in all dynasties. Thousands of years of history are basically the struggle between the local separatist forces and the central court. The local separatist forces are in charge of division, and the central court is in charge of reunification. The divisions and reunification last for thousands of years.
Of course Chen Qing was aware of this big problem, and he was also trying to solve this big historical problem that had troubled him for thousands of years. He promoted the status of the superintendent. This small move divided the relationship between the gentry and the county magistrate, making them no longer
Become one.
The reason is also very simple. He can directly control the power, so why do the gentry go all the way to find the county magistrate to speak for him? The county magistrate has his power weakened by the gentry and does not get any benefits, so he will naturally regard the gentry as his enemy, and a struggle will come.
This is the real purpose of Chen Qing's promotion of the status of superintendent, but people need to do things in the county, so the role of county workers comes into play.
Therefore, Jiang Yanxian’s point of view is not completely correct. The enemies of the county magistrate and county magistrate are not the outside county workers, but the local custodians. The county magistrate and the county magistrate must concentrate on dealing with the custodians, and they will definitely win over the county workers and make them
County workers do things.
Of course, Chen Qing also knows that there is a lot of chaos now. This is normal. There are two catfishes, the superintendent and the county worker, stirring up trouble. The officialdom at the county level will definitely not be calm. It will take time to observe how effective it will be. If it really works
If it doesn't work, it's never too late to change it.
Chen Qing sighed softly and looked at the blue sky outside the car window. In fact, no matter how he reformed, he could not change the involution of the empire. The turmoil in the past dynasties was all caused by involution. To change it, the real solution is
Expand outward.
There is still such a large area of land overseas, and there are so many rich species. Expanding outwards, the Song Dynasty's large-scale ships went to Africa and Arabia. There is no shortage of navigation technology. What they lack now is the thirty-thousand-stone large-scale ships, which requires a huge colonial population.