"Chen Yuanyuan, you have completed the mission well this time, and you have worked hard. From the remaining military expenses, you can use 500,000 silver to reward all the personnel who worked this time on my behalf."
"Your Majesty, being able to contribute to Your Majesty and the New Deal is a blessing earned by my concubines and sisters over three lifetimes." Chen Yuanyuan replied quickly.
"Well, judging from the reaction of the gentry and landlords in various places this time, it is indeed inappropriate for you to directly promote it like this. After all, if the name is not correct, the words will not be fair.
Therefore, I plan to set up a propaganda supervisor. If there are women under your name who have outstanding abilities and want to serve the royal family, you can recommend some to me.
Those younger girls can also recommend a group, and from now on they will all become the exclusive entertainers of the royal family, the same as the palace maids and shopkeepers, not geishas."
Zhu Cixiang added that he decided to set up a special propaganda department to compete for public opinion.
After all, it is inappropriate to always let these famous prostitutes publicize to the people. It is easy to talk about but not easy to hear. Besides, without a formal identity, many things are inconvenient.
So he planned to recruit some storytellers, and then select some outstanding and talented prostitutes and some girls who were being trained from among them, and give them status. In the future, they can bear the name of the royal family and go to various places to perform their talents to appease the people.
While promoting.
As for traditional literati, in order to maintain the purity of the inner court team, Zhu Cihong would never recruit them. He would rather train new scholars himself than let them enter the various prisons of his inner court.
After hearing this, Chen Yuanyuan was very excited. She immediately did not want to be the shameful female officer of the Fengyue Division. Instead, she wanted to be the female officer of the Propaganda Supervisor. Even if she could be an assistant, she was willing to do so.
Zhu Cixiang seemed to have read her thoughts and poured a ladle of cold water on her: "I have already chosen a candidate for the chief female officer of the Propaganda Supervision Bureau. Fengyue Division is equally important. You should not think too much about it and do this honestly.
Female officer of Fengyue Division, as long as you work hard, I will never treat you badly in the future."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will definitely do my best to take care of Fengyue Division and complete the tasks assigned by Your Majesty."
Chen Yuanyuan said this, but felt a little disappointed in her heart, because she knew that all the sisters would probably go to the Propaganda Prison instead of staying in Fengyue Division.
Zhu Cixiang thought about it and decided to give her a little sweetener. After all, the brothel industry is still very important to the future social stability, so he said: "That's great. Within ten years, if you can train me 10,000 singers,
If a Japanese girl comes along who is good at dancing, good in appearance, and can also play music, chess, calligraphy and painting, I will make you a talented person."
"ah!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will definitely complete my mission..."
Chen Yuanyuan suddenly turned from sadness to joy and hurriedly knelt down to worship. She was so excited that she became a little incoherent.
"Okay, go down and do some work. Don't just think about dancing for me all day long. When I feel better, I will naturally let you sing and dance when I have time."
From now on, the money earned by Feng Yuesi every year does not need to be handed over, but can be used for funding. In addition to the 10,000 talented and beautiful famous prostitutes, ordinary geishas also need to prepare some, at least hundreds of thousands, for ten years
From now on, I want all my Han women to stop being prostitutes."
Zhu Cihong waved his hand and said.
After hearing the little emperor's domineering words, Chen Yuanyuan admired her from the bottom of her heart, and also felt that what she was doing was of extraordinary significance.
I also heard that the little emperor would let himself dance when he was in a good mood. Chen Yuanyuan's whole body softened, and after another round of compliments, she reluctantly left.
Sure enough, when it was announced after returning, dozens of famous prostitutes such as Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan almost all decided to join the Propaganda Supervision without hesitation. Obviously they were not stupid.
The next day, Zhu Cihong personally met with Li Xiangjun and dozens of other famous prostitutes, and after some explanations, Li Xiangjun, Dong Xiaowan and other six women were temporarily responsible for preparing for the propaganda prison.
As for the chief female officer, he plans to leave it to Liu Rushi in the future.
"Hong'er, now that all three aspects have been arranged, what are you going to do next?"
Although Zhang Yan is busy drafting girls, she has always been very concerned about the New Deal, and she obviously knows that it is related to the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty.
"Auntie, do you think if I order the implementation of the new land policy now, officials at all levels will conscientiously re-register households and measure the land?"
"Yes, but those officials are too involved with the powerful local families, so they will definitely bend the law for their own interests and do things perfunctory. Even if the officials in various places want to do their best, I am afraid they will be unable to do it alone, and the garrisons in various places cannot do such delicate work.
"
Zhang Yan nodded, and then said with a worried look on her face, obviously she also understood the true situation of the local officials in the Ming Dynasty.
"How do you think Auntie should deal with it?"
"According to what Xun'er said, the officials can be included in the official system, and the imperial court will distribute their salaries uniformly, but I am worried that even so, I am afraid that they will not be able to do their best work."
Zhang Yan shook her head.
"Yes, in fact, the officials in various places are the real biggest cancer of our Ming Dynasty. They don't care about their reputation, they exploit and oppress the people without any scruples, they deceive the superiors and conceal the inferiors, and they simply do whatever they want in various places.
As the saying goes, if you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. If this cancer is not completely eliminated and rectified, the New Deal will be empty talk. Therefore, incorporating officials into the official evaluation system is only the first step. The second step is to integrate the officials of various states.
All the officials should be swapped to completely cut off their local roots. What I need is their experience, not their connections." Zhu Cixiang said slowly.
Zhang Yan's eyes suddenly lit up. She didn't expect that the problem that had been unsolved in all dynasties could be solved easily with Xun'er.
Then Zhu Cihong explained to her in detail the rank and salary of officials.
Zhu Cixiang’s plan was that in the future, all officials would be uniformly selected and assessed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and anyone with a reputation as a scholar could sign up.
Once you pass the assessment, you will be awarded the Ninth Grade. If you perform well, you can be promoted to the First Assistant.
From now on, the only difference between officials and clerks is that one starts at a low level, starting from the ninth rank, and the other starts at a high level, and starts directly from the seventh rank after becoming a Jinshi.
Zhu Cixiang also adjusted the salaries and grades of civil servants. The first assistants were of the first rank, and the second assistants were of the first rank. Ministers of various ministries, provincial governors, and other cabinet ministers were all of the second rank and the second rank.
The ministers on the left and right, the chief envoy, and the secret envoy are the third rank and the third rank.
The magistrate is in the fourth rank, the Zhili prefecture is in the fifth rank, the prefecture in Sanzhou is in the sixth rank, the county magistrate is in the seventh rank, the county magistrate is in the seventh rank, the chief bookkeeper is in the seventh rank, the chief minister of each house is in the eighth rank, the clerk of each house is in the eighth rank and is in the ninth rank.
The class yamen servant is in the ninth grade, and he is in the ninth grade.
Salaries are distributed uniformly and are divided into three types: regular salary, integrity-supporting silver and bonuses. Regular salary is distributed once a month.
For the highest-ranking first-class official, the salary alone is 2,000 taels per month, plus bonuses and money for raising integrity, it can be 40,000 to 50,000 taels per year.
The lowest one, from the ninth grade, has a monthly salary of three taels, plus annual bonuses, which amounts to more than fifty taels a year.
The Integrity Silver is fixed every year and is only issued to officials of seventh grade or above. Once a person commits corruption or accepts bribes, in addition to being dismissed from office and held accountable, all the Integrity Silver issued over the years must also be taken back.
Bonuses are available to all officials. Like Yanglian Yin, they are distributed once a year. The amount distributed is based on the tax rate of each locality as a reference.
"Hong'er, is this salary too high?"
After Zhang Yan heard this, she also secretly thought that Hong'er was so generous. Let's not talk about the amount of the bonus. The money and salary alone were twice as much as the salary of the Ming Dynasty today.
A seventh-rank magistrate in a county would have nearly a thousand taels of silver in official salary and support and integrity in a year.
"Except for the first and second grade, the others are not too high, but the salary of officials was too low in the past. Now that the children have raised their salary, if they are still thinking about how to exploit the place and make money,
That kid went on a killing spree, so they had nothing to say, right?
In case the time comes, you will say that my old Zhu family is too stingy and wants the horses to run without giving them grass."
Zhu Cihong waved his hand. He also set his salary based on the consumption situation of this era.
According to this kind of salary bonus and honest silver, a county magistrate can not only support his family and eat meat every day, but also support more than a dozen servants and bearers.
The lowest rank, the ninth rank, can ensure food and clothing for the family. Although they cannot afford to feed slaves, they can live a good life.
The salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were indeed too low. In the early stage, they used treasure money to deceive people and even gave out some miscellaneous things.
How low it is, Hai Rui has already explained very well. A magistrate can ensure that the whole family has enough food and clothing, and they can't even afford meat.
It is definitely unreasonable to live a life worse than that of the local wealthy households.
Seeing what he said, Zhang Yan opened her mouth and said no more.
"Mother, you will announce this matter at the meeting tomorrow and let Ma Shiying take full responsibility for it."
"Xun'er is such a big deal, why don't you go to court in person?"
When Zhang Yan saw that he would blame such a thing on her, she immediately felt a little inappropriate.
"Do you think those officials will not object then? If the child is gone, they will definitely be blabbering a lot, and maybe they will resign and give advice.
Once the boy's bad temper starts, I'm afraid there won't be many civil servants left in Nanjing, so I'd better keep a close eye on him. If anyone objects then, I'll just tell them to get out."
In history, many civil servants in Nanjing died for the country. Except for a few, Zhu Cixi could not tell the difference. Nowadays, the civil servants have killed almost everyone, and the suppression is severe enough.
Nothing is too much, and after all, government affairs in the future will still be handled by civil servants.
So he planned to support Ma Shiying and delegate power to him to see if these civil servants still had room for reform and whether they could do things.
"Oh well."
Zhang Yan's face changed when she heard what he said. She thought about it and nodded, and then tried to say: "Hong'er, this Ma Shiying is an eunuch. Now that he has become the second assistant, there are already signs of a dominant family.
If he is allowed to take full charge of this matter again, he will definitely monopolize the power. It is better to appoint Gao Hongtu as a cabinet minister to check and balance each other..."
“No, it doesn’t matter if he is a member of the Eunuch Party or the Donglin Party, as long as he can get things done, he is a good party; if he cannot get things done, he is a chaotic party!
There is no need for checks and balances. What the child wants is for him to have the power alone so that he can do things wholeheartedly, rather than scheming and scheming all day long. If you hold me back, I will tear you down."
Zhu Cixiang waved his hand. What he wanted was a civil service group with executive power and an administrative system that could implement his policies in place.
"But…"
Zhang Yan opened her mouth as if she was hesitant to speak, her face full of worry.
"Haha, aunt, I know what you are worried about, but today is different from the past. This is not the Jiajing, Wanli, and Tianqi dynasties, but the Shenwu dynasty.
No matter how powerful he, Ma Shiying, is, it is limited to the civil service group and is just a pawn in my hand.
Humph, if he is obedient and able to do things, I will reward him. If he is incompetent and disobedient, I will let him go and replace him with someone who is obedient and capable.
If all the civil servants are useless and disobedient, then I will let them all go out and start a new school to recruit scholars to select a group of officials. There are many people who want to be officials in the Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Cixiang naturally understood what she meant, and waved his hand at the end.
Those civil servants used to control the army, money and food, and public opinion. They locked the emperor in the palace and treated him like a plaything in his hands.
The one who is obedient is a wise emperor, the one who is disobedient is a coward. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed, and a new emperor will be replaced. If he is disobedient, he will continue to change.
Now the situation has reversed. Military power, money and food are all in the hands of the emperor. When public opinion is also controlled by him, the civil servants will be completely locked in a cage by the emperor.
If they are obedient, they will throw some sweet dates in. If they are disobedient, they will be beaten with a stick. If they dare to resist, they will be dealt with all. Then they will make a new batch and put them in the cage.