Chapter 48: On the road to growth, you must learn to compromise (2)
Officials themselves are a class that transcends secular rights.
As Master Qian Mu said in The Gains and Losses of All Dynasties, why did the Manchu Qing Dynasty have to feed the children of the Eight Banners for more than two hundred years?
The Eight Banners disciples were not all Manchurians, but they were definitely the most loyal supporters and defenders of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. They were even the tools of the emperor to rule the world autocratically.
The disciples of the Eight Banners are a class.
In fact, fundamentally speaking, the same was true for the officials of the Ming Dynasty.
Rather than them needing the emperor, the emperor actually needs them more and cannot live without them.
Regardless of whether the emperor or officials, in fact, they are all members of this community of interests. The emperor can decide who should be given greater benefits, but he cannot ruin the meal!
The old man can kill corrupt officials at will, but Zhu Yunxi, the successor, cannot kill at will, let alone cruelly. In that case, he, the emperor, and the new system that the court wants to establish, no one will really abide by it.
This will result in the new system being hollow, officials being overstaffed, and systems and personnel failing to match.
This would cause the monarchs and ministers of the Ming Dynasty to be alienated from their moral integrity, and the decrees would not be promoted smoothly.
This is also the reason why the old man repeatedly warned Zhu Yunxi not to imitate him. No matter how powerful a dynasty is, if two generations of murderous emperors appear in a row, the empire is destined not to last long.
~~
"Go outside!" Zhu Yunxi rubbed his heart and said to the outside.
The courtiers outside suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and all bowed and retreated outside.
When only the confidants were left in the inner hall, Zhu Yunxi continued, "Sir, please continue!"
"Yes!" Xie Jin bowed his head, "Now, Your Majesty, you want to promote the New Deal across the country. Officials and gentry will be responsible for paying grain and taxes, and you also want to exempt non-commissioned officers from various privileges. If you punish the officials and kill them, it will definitely cause a backlash!"
This is what Zhu Yunxi is struggling with. Facing a powerful group of bureaucrats, everything must be done step by step. There must be choices, advances and retreats. Even if he is the emperor, many times he has to give in and bow his head tactfully.
Only when you reach this position can you really understand one sentence, zz is the art of compromise!
"Go on!" Zhu Yunxi rubbed his temples and said.
Xie Jin was silent for a moment, "Take corruption as an example. There are inevitably big evil people in the world, and human nature is evil. But more petty corruption, in my opinion, there are more or less things that you can't control!"
"
"In the officialdom, money is needed to welcome people, exchange favors, maintain the dignity of officials, and support their families." Xie Jin organized his words carefully, "And the salary of our Ming Dynasty has always been meager and unsustainable."
"Corruption is necessary for a small salary? What's the logic of this? Just talk about the difficulties, why don't you talk about the privileges of being an official...?" Xin Yande said with a sideways glance.
"Don't interrupt him!" Zhu Yunxi still rubbed his temples, "Let the gentleman continue!"
At this time, Li Jinglong bought a handful of wet towels from somewhere and held them in front of Zhu Yunxi, "Your Majesty, this has been chilled. It's too hot today. You can put it on your forehead to relieve the heat!"
As he said that, he knelt at Zhu Yunxi's feet again, "There are no outsiders at this time, long live my lord, please take it easy. It's a hot day, you are still wearing court boots, you are covering yourself up!"
Putting the ice towel on his forehead, he felt a pleasant sensation. Zhu Yunxi leaned back and stretched out his legs, waiting for the next sentence of Jie Jin.
"As the old saying goes, hunger and cold lead to stealing. If the salary is too small, it is difficult to support a family, so naturally you will want to do whatever you want. At first it is a small greed, but later it becomes a big greed!" Xie Jin continued, "This is how human nature is!"
"Human nature!" Zhu Yunxi smiled bitterly, "I don't know it is human nature, but just because of the word human nature, I let it go or ignored it?" He said, sighing, "Hey, human nature!? Haha, Emperor Taizu Gao was in his thirties.
Years of butcher's knives are rolling, but in the end they are no match for humanity!"
"It must be managed, otherwise the corruption of official administration will be the cause of the country's downfall!" Xie Jin continued, "Your Majesty, you have repeatedly mentioned that Emperor Gao used all kinds of thunderous methods in the past to use them in the present. It is inappropriate and should not be done. This is
One moment and another moment cannot be generalized!”
"Furthermore, Your Majesty always said that the country must have rules and the court must have systems, so I suggest that we first establish the system!" Xie Jin thought about it again, "The Emperor also said before that the salaries of officials are too low.
It causes trouble, so I thought I’d give everyone a raise too..."
"I understand what you mean!" Zhu Yunxi smiled, "Officials' salaries are small, so if they want to be corrupt, they have to do whatever they want. This principle doesn't work for me!" He said, thinking for a moment, "But it's not unreasonable for me.
People with favors can set up a bank to support integrity, and the salary will be determined according to the official position..."
Immediately, he tapped his fingers on the table a few times, "Just double the official's salary..."
After the words fell, the spirits of the ministers were lifted.
But at this time, some of the officials also realized that Xie Jin must have communicated with the emperor about this matter in advance. The emperor was using today's corruption case to set rules for the officials in the world.
"But this Yanglianyin comes with conditions!"
Sure enough, Zhu Yunxi said again, "For example, for a county magistrate, the yanglianyin and the salary will be distributed together. The prerequisite is that the county magistrate is above average in the assessment within the year. Moreover, if corruption is discovered in the future, not only the salary over the years will be returned
The Yanglian silver from that year will be recovered together!"
"If he doesn't pay it back, his son will pay it back. If his son doesn't pay it back, his grandson will pay it back!"
"hiss!"
The ministers took a breath of air!
"You say your salary is too small, so I will give you the money to support your integrity. If you continue to be greedy after giving your salary to support your integrity, it will be judged according to the amount of corruption. Whether it is bad or not in the world will depend on your conviction. If the salary is less than one hundred silver dollars, the salary and the money that supports your integrity and the dirty silver will be recovered and confiscated.
The family property will be sent to Luzon, Burma and other places to serve in the army!"
"If it's more than two hundred, I'll kill you."
"If you are above three hundred, you will be included in the record of traitors and be declared to the world!"
"hiss!"
Everyone gasped again, and a thought came to their minds, "How cruel!"
Although it is not like in the past where people who were caught with corruption were waiting to be killed, now they are divided into levels. It is not that the emperor is unwilling to kill people, but that he has established the rules first and then relies on the rules to kill people.
In fact, deep down in Zhu Yunxi's heart, this was a helpless act of compromise.
If you have money to raise integrity, you won’t be greedy anymore? What a fool!
Every year, the imperial grain and autumn taxes paid to the country by the people have to go through the hands of these officials. They have many tricks to create names. The grain is substandard, the copper coins and silver are of wrong quality, small buckets are replaced by big buckets...
Moreover, every year when various prefectures and counties do not have enough taxes and grains, those who can pay 80% are considered capable officials.
If we encounter floods, droughts, or plagues, it will be a good opportunity for officials to make a fortune!
It's very frustrating to talk about it, so what if you know?
Sitting in this position, Zhu Yunxi had long understood that ruling and governing were two different things. He also understood that as an emperor, he had to compromise.
A small leak will sink a great ship!
"You decide the specific regulations!" Zhu Yunxi looked at the ministers again and said.
"Your Majesty, where does the money for raising honest silver come from?" Tie Gongji Zhang, the Minister of Household Affairs, said, "You have found a big hole for me again!"
"The money from minting is used for this." Zhu Yunxi thought about it, "It's not a rule, let's do this for now!"
Everything is afraid of becoming a routine, so Zhu Yunxi never says what should be regarded as a routine, and it should be handled accordingly in the future.
Suddenly, he felt a sense of guilt that made him laugh or cry.
Fourth Master Yong had all his magic weapons copied by himself. The reason why the Ming Dynasty did not attribute fire consumption to fire consumption was because it had long promoted the silver dollar. But the profit from casting silver coins was actually another disguised form of fire consumption credit.
The same is true for the Yanglian Bank, and this is even more true for the upcoming implementation of integrated grain and tax payments for officials and gentry.
"Now let's talk about the use of troops against Burma!" Zhu Yunxi glanced out the window, and at some point, the cicada stopped chirping.
He looked at Wei Guogong Xu Huizu, "Are you ready?"
"Back to the Emperor! Anlu Marquis Wu Jie, Changxing Marquis Geng Bingwen and others were ordered to eliminate the useless border guards. The first batch is about 30,000 people. In the name of military training, they are about to arrive in Shandong!" Xu Huizu said, "Then board the ship and sail for
Myanmar!"
Removing the border guards is not an easy job. Even if the two noble military commanders took action, they would not dare to say that you were laid off and the emperor would not support you. Instead, they would find an excuse to transfer you out.
"How is the morale of the army?" Zhu Yunxi asked.
Li Jinglong, Duke of Cao, laughed at the side and said, "Your Majesty, I don't think you need to worry about this matter!" He continued to laugh, "Those old and weak among the border guards are also vulgar warriors. After boarding the ship, you only need to lead the troops.
The people said, let go of the robbery when you get to the place, it is all yours, sons and daughters, no matter how much you rob, the soldiers will not get a penny. When the time comes, everyone will be screaming, and the eighty-year-old veteran will be able to carry a knife and go into battle!"
Zhu Yunxi is not worried about this.
The army of the Ming Dynasty was completely invincible as long as they heard the words "grabbing casually".
"The first batch of 30,000 people!" Zhu Yunxi pondered for a moment, "Let's go to Burma. This battle must be fast, as fast as lightning!"