Chapter 169 Rectifying the Administration of Officials
"Well, Ma Aiqing is indeed a veteran minister of the country. I still believe in Ma Aiqing's ability, but in addition, all the officials need to be swapped." Zhu Cixiang nodded and said.
"Your Majesty is wise, I can't deal with this just in case."
Ma Shiying was also stunned, and then he turned his head and bowed. He did not expect that His Majesty was more thoughtful and thoughtful than him, so at this moment, he was not completely flattering, but respected from the bottom of his heart.
At the same time, I also understand that His Majesty probably already has a complete implementation plan for the New Deal in mind.
In the early stage, the army was stationed, prostitutes were sent to explain to the people, royal shops were opened, and the salt industry was rectified. Today's rectification of officialdom is closely linked. Every step is to prepare for the implementation of the New Deal, and every step is related to the success or failure of the New Deal.
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With such meticulous scheming and sophisticated methods, it is hard to imagine that a young emperor who had grown up in the palace could come up with these things.
Thinking of this, Ma Shiying was also filled with emotion. The old Zhu family finally gave birth to a wise and powerful emperor, and the civil servants were not unjust at all.
"This new policy is related to the destiny of our country in the next hundred years of the Ming Dynasty. It can only succeed and not fail. Ma Aiqing can just go ahead and do it without any worries. From now on, Aiqing, the officials below the third rank, can appoint and remove them on his own initiative, and he can just report it afterwards!
Once the New Deal is successful, you, Ma Shiying, will be my minister for the resurgence of the Ming Dynasty, and your reputation and achievements will not be any worse than those of Yu Shaobao and Zhang Juzheng."
"I have the trust of Your Majesty, and I only accept important responsibilities. I am willing to serve Your Majesty and the Ming Dynasty with all my heart, even until my death!"
Ma Shiying was so excited that she burst into tears. She knelt on the ground and was shaking all over. She was once again shocked by the courage of the little emperor.
What is a sage king? This is a sage king. Officials below the third rank can appoint and remove officials on their own initiative. It is very clear that he is asked to exclude dissidents and speak the truth among civil servants.
With such decentralization and the support of soldiers and horses, as long as the emperor does not waver, what kind of new policy cannot be implemented?
"Okay, please don't worry, I love you. The one I am most disgraceful to is that kind of foolish king from ancient times who wasted no time and killed a donkey. Today I promise you that you will live up to me and I will never let you down!"
The idea of sharing the same land and paying taxes to both officials and gentry is just the beginning of the New Deal. There will be many earth-shaking reforms in the future. Aiqing must be prepared.
This is a detailed policy plan on land. You can go back and see if there are any deficiencies. If not, we will implement it immediately after the official rectification is completed."
After Zhu Cixiang finished speaking, he took out a booklet and handed it to him. As for other aspects, he was not in a hurry to talk about it yet.
The reason why he chose Ma Shiying was because in history, compared to the boastful Donglin Party members, Ma Shiying still had some means and abilities, and was also quite knowledgeable.
Compared with Wei Zaode, Hou Xun, Gao Hongtu, Shi Kefa, Qian Qianyi and others, his abilities and methods are much stronger, and he should be the most suitable candidate at the moment.
Historically, if Qian Qianyi, Gao Hongtu and other Donglin Party members had not destroyed him, this guy might have been able to keep half of the Ming Dynasty.
Historically, after the city of Beijing was captured and the news of Chongzhen's hanging reached the south, Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, immediately united with the general soldiers of the four towns in Jiangbei to prepare for the succession of King Fu to the throne.
Although the Donglin Party members tried to obstruct him in every possible way and wanted to support King Lu, they were still unable to defeat King Fu, who had the support of the general soldiers of the four towns. After all, King Fu's succession to the throne was justified.
After King Fu went to Nanjing to supervise the country, Ma Shiying, as a hero who supported him, naturally became the chief minister of the cabinet, the head of the civil service.
Then, relying on Prince Fu's support, this guy suppressed the Donglin Party members in the court and forced them out of the court.
The most important thing is that at that time, Ma Shiying proposed to jointly recruit the remnants of the bandits who had fled to Xiangyang and Nanyang to jointly fight against the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and at the same time, it was convenient to check and balance Zuo Liangyu, who had a self-respecting army in Huguang.
Unfortunately, this proposal was strongly opposed by the Donglin Party members, who stood on the moral high ground and scolded Ma Shiying so much that even King Fu had to give it up.
After all, his father was killed by intruders, and Chongzhen was also forced to death by intruders. Faced with the scolding and opposition from the Donglin Party members, he really had no confidence to refute.
If it was just like this, Nanming might not have been defeated so quickly. However, after the Donglin Party members saw that they could not defeat Ma Shiying and were expelled from the court, they actually ignored the overall situation and asked Hou Xun to encourage Zuo Liangyu to lead troops to Nanjing to serve the king.
Eliminate the traitors, force King Fu to kill Ma Shiying, and reuse Dongdang Lin.
Seriously, they are still fighting for power and gain even till death.
And Zuo Liangyu didn't know what he was thinking, but he actually stupidly led his troops to King Qin.
At that time, Zuo Liangyu had millions of troops in Wuchang. Anyone with a little bit of knowledge and ambition would not hesitate to send his troops north to seize the important town of Xiangyang occupied by bandits at all costs and completely lock the entrance to Jingxiang.
, and then based on the entire Jianghan Plain, recruit talents, diligently cultivate internal affairs, and plan for great causes.
But what did Zuo Liangyu do? He turned a good Huguang into a mess. He only knew how to destroy but not to produce, which made the entire Huguang gentry and literati extremely reject him.
Forget it, a military general frequently intervened in the Jiangnan party struggle, so much so that he finally led troops to help the Donglin Party force the palace. In the end, in order to resist Zuo Liangyu, King Fu and Ma Shiying had to let the four towns in Jiangbei fight.
The outcome was that the two sides fought fiercely. The Tatar army took the opportunity to go south and captured Jiangbei and Xiangyang easily. Zuo Liangyu died of illness, his son Shuaijun surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Gao Jie died in internal fighting, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing surrendered, and Huang Degong was unable to survive alone. In the end,
Die in battle.
However, Ma Shiying, who was called a shameless villain by the Donglin Party members, chose to die for the Ming Dynasty. He spoke of benevolence and morality and opposed the recruitment of the remaining bandits. Qian Qianyi and others who wanted to avenge Chongzhen instead became traitors in Kaicheng.
If there was no internal fighting, Zuo Liangyu would guard Huguang conscientiously, and the four towns in Jiangbei would guard Huaibei together. Even if they did not join forces with Liu Fangliang, Li Guo and the remaining bandits, they would still be able to secure half of the country.
Because originally Ma Shiying was able to suppress the four towns in Jiangbei by virtue of his status as chief minister and the emperor's trust.
However, in order to seize military power, the Donglin Party members actually asked Shi Kefa, the Minister of War, to go to Jiangbei to supervise the division.
He was called the Supervisor, but he was actually trying to win over people. As expected, after a few operations, the four towns were in a state of chaos, and in the end they almost lost their minds.
Therefore, the reason for the defeat of Nanming is inseparable from the struggle for power and profit among the Donglin Party members.
If you can't do the real thing, you'll be dragging your feet to create trouble. It's just one thing after another. With such pig teammates, it would be strange if Ma Shiying and King Fu don't get tricked to death.
Ma Shiying left the imperial study and returned to the Wenhua Hall, still unable to suppress the excitement in her heart.
With the power in hand and the full support of the emperor, all the eunuchs were also very excited. Ma Shiying immediately asked the officials of all prefectures and counties in Southern Zhili to report the detailed list of officials at all levels of government within one month.
Those who came up late, or made false reports or concealed reports, would be dismissed from their posts and investigated, and the Minister of Civil Affairs would be responsible for recruiting and evaluating talented people.
With the issuance of the emperor's edict and the cabinet's decree, all the officials, gentry and literati in the entire southern Zhili knew that the Ming Dynasty was about to change.
Some scholars who had failed the examination for a long time, and even those who dreamed of becoming officials, immediately rushed to Nanjing to prepare for the examination of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
And the magistrates of counties and prefectures in various places did not dare to slack off, and they all understood that whoever dared to muddle through at this time would definitely be killed to scare the monkeys.
But they might as well take the opportunity to make a fortune. Almost all the officials in the yamen in various places were severely extorted by their own officials.
In order to obtain high rankings, some officials even spent large sums of money to bribe magistrates and magistrates in order to get them to falsely report their positions.
Ma Shiying had already prepared for this. After the list of positions in various yamen was reported, he dispatched more than a hundred inspection censors to verify them one by one.
All officials who made false reports will be dismissed on the spot and handed over to Dongchang for legal action. The inspector censor will take over their duties. Officials who paid bribes will have their homes confiscated and imprisoned, and the execution will be carried out by the local garrison.
After more than a year of development, Dongchang has branches all over Huguang, Nanzhili, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and is now rapidly extending to Fujian and Guangdong and Guangxi.
The censors sent out for inspection were also new scholars who wanted to be officials and were crazy about becoming officials, so it was not something that could be bribed with money. They all wanted to find out who the local officials were.
However, Ma Shiying did not care about the previous cases of malpractice for personal gain, corruption and perversion of the law, and only caught the false report, concealment of report and failure to report this time.
Despite this, countless civil servants were dismissed from their posts in the entire Southern Zhili, and countless officials had their homes confiscated and imprisoned. Almost half of them were civil servants.
The Donglin Party members were naturally not willing to be spectators, and the gentry and landlords from all over the country were also not willing to just sit back and wait for death. The two sides almost hit it off.
Although he did not dare to point his finger at the emperor and the New Deal directly, he did dare to point his finger at Ma Shiying and the eunuchs.
For a time, the public opinion in the entire southern Zhili was one-sided, with all of them criticizing Ma Shiying. They had ulterior motives, forming a party to monopolize power, and intending to commit rebellion.
Similarly, some scholars who were dismissed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs also felt resentful and knelt down at the gate of the palace to petition, accusing Ma Shiying of nepotism and unfair assessment by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Ma Shiying was not a red lady. Faced with such a massive crusade, she was under great pressure and could not sit still. She had to go to the palace to see His Majesty. Firstly, she wanted to test the emperor's attitude, and secondly, she sought psychological comfort.
It's a pity that Zhu Cixiang was already busy arranging the shipbuilding project, and it was still Zhang Yan who met him.
"Ma Aiqing, His Majesty has already gone to the Longjiang Shipyard. When he left, he left a message, telling you not to be afraid, just go ahead and get things done, and get the administration in order as soon as possible. It must be completed before April, and then start compiling household registers and taking measurements.
land."
After Zhang Yan finished speaking, she couldn't help but ask: "How is the official governance going now?"
"Back to the Queen Mother, the officials in various places have been carefully counted and assigned corresponding grades according to the new regulations. The missing officials in various places have also been filled. I am preparing for the exchange, but I am afraid that many officials will not be willing.
Before I go to another place to take office, I suggest that I first give one month's salary to the officials in various places, so as to alleviate some of their concerns."
When Ma Shiying saw such a big thing, His Majesty did not sit in the palace, but went to the wasteland of Longjiang Shipyard to inspect. He was speechless and could only test Zhang Yan cautiously.
"That's true. How much money does it cost? You can tell me the amount first!" Zhang Yan nodded and said, she was also helpless to Xun'er for not doing his job properly.
"Back to the Queen Mother, there are more than 23,000 officials, big and small, in the entire Southern Zhili Province. According to the salary stipulated in the New Deal, the total salary is about 300,000 taels."
"So much? 300,000 taels a month, not more than 3 million taels a year? This is just the province of Southern Zhili. If we add in the salaries of officials across the country, wouldn't it be 30 to 40 million?
Two expenses?”
Zhang Yan was so shocked that her face turned pale with fright.
"That's true, but you don't have to worry too much, Queen Mother. After the new land tax policy is implemented, the tax collected nationwide on land alone will probably be more than 30 to 40 million taels. Not to mention the business, Your Majesty must also have plans."
Ma Shiying hurriedly explained that he knew that His Majesty dared to offer such a high salary, so he must have been prepared for it.
Even if His Majesty is not prepared, he plans to suggest that Your Majesty levy commercial taxes and establish a shipping department, otherwise the imperial court will never be able to afford it.
"Okay then, the Ai family will temporarily allocate five hundred thousand taels to you, but can you guarantee that all this money will be distributed to the officials in a truthful manner?"
Although the Red Lady took away 10 million taels of silver, there were still nearly 50 million taels left in Nanjing, all of which were kept by Zhang Yan herself.
"This...I can't guarantee it, and I can't guarantee it."
Facing Zhang Yan's question, Ma Shiying was a little embarrassed, but she could only answer honestly.
"You can't guarantee it, so how dare the Ai family allocate money to you?"
Zhang Yan still understood the virtues of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty, but when she saw his appearance, she immediately didn't want to give it to him.
"Queen Mother, as the saying goes, if the water is clear, there will be no fish. If you are afraid of official corruption, you will not receive salary. This..." Ma Shiying also wanted to cry but had no tears.
"Hmph, if you have bad conduct, you have bad conduct, and you can still plausibly say that these silvers belong to the royal family, not the court. Your Majesty will hand over the silver to the Ai family, and the Ai family will never allow it to be corrupted. You can think of a way on your own.
Solve it. If the corruption cannot be solved, then we will wait until His Majesty comes back."
Zhang Yan waved her hand, obviously under Zhu Cixiang's indoctrination, she now clearly distinguishes between the royal family and the imperial court.
She was sure that by giving the money to Ma Shiying in this way, the amount that would eventually be distributed to officials in various places would probably not exceed 30%.
Seeing what Zhang Yan said, Ma Shiying had no choice but to give up, and then asked for instructions on how to deal with the scholars who were causing trouble outside the palace, as well as the public opinion in various places.
"The scholars at the gate of the palace will deal with it, so you don't have to worry about it. As for the criticism from various places, it is inevitable. As long as it does not affect the implementation of the new policy, you don't have to care too much.
An upright body is not afraid of a crooked shadow. Your Majesty has already anticipated this situation. As long as you do your job with all your heart and act upright, Your Majesty will not listen to greedy words."
Zhang Yan said slowly and looked at him thoughtfully.
Ma Shiying also knew that Zhang Yan looked down on him as an eunuch from the bottom of her heart, so she said no more, bowed, and left.
"Xu Lan, go to the gate of the palace and tell the scholars that your Majesty will conduct a thorough investigation on the civil service examination and ask them all to go back. Those who do not listen will be expelled from their positions."
After Ma Shiying left, Zhang Yan gave instructions to Xu Lan.
The reason why Xu Lan was not asked to deal with it immediately was because he had some selfish motives. He wanted to scare Ma Shiying and give him a beating.
"yes!"
Xu Lan immediately replied that she had long been impatient with the noisy scholars outside the palace gate.