The mountain rain is about to come and the wind fills the building.
An order from the navy suddenly made the situation in Champa, which had been gradually stabilizing, become complicated.
News spread in the market, and even the leader of the Cao Gang, Long Dongqiang, spread the news that he had received the order.
There was only one day, he had to do something.
Long Dongqiang, who had faced the intimidation of the Ming Dynasty, knew more about the power here. If the Navy wanted to intervene in the current gang pattern in Champa, then choice was a very important issue.
It involves palace eunuchs, and no one knows what the meaning behind this is.
Just relying on his cao gang is impossible to fight against the navy.
He needs help.
.....
Zhu Ying could not have imagined that her simple words would cause the city of Champa to tremble.
This is too high a position.
As the grandson of the Ming Dynasty, he is now the actual controller of the entire Ming Dynasty. If he stamps his feet casually, not only will the entire Ming Dynasty tremble, but the aftershocks caused by it will also be unbearable for surrounding countries.
However, it is obvious that the current Zhu Ying does not have these thoughts, or in other words, the emperors who controlled the world's power in the past dynasties basically did not have such a cognition.
The key factor here lies in the issue of information dissemination and feedback.
Of course, in fact, no matter how big the commotion is in Champa, from Zhu Ying's point of view, it is just a ripple on the lake, not a big wave.
"How's the little guy doing lately? Are you still holding on?"
In the study, Zhu Ying, who was leisurely looking at the statistics of various departments, smiled and asked Ye Yueqing next to him.
He rarely interferes with the power of officials now, which is equivalent to completely letting go.
However, we still need to keep abreast of the changes in the entire Ming Dynasty. The overall affairs have been reduced a lot.
Ye Yueqing felt a little distressed when she heard the words; "I don't know what kind of ecstasy soup you poured into Wen Cheng. You insist on it every day, which makes me feel uncomfortable."
"I have the imperial doctor from the Imperial Hospital always with me. I am always worried that something will go wrong with him. Can't you think of another way?"
Zhu Ying shook his head slightly: "You have to endure hardships to become a master. He is the future prince of the Ming Dynasty, and a good body is very important to him. I don't want all the future emperors of the Ming Dynasty to have bad health."
"Not only Wen Cheng, but Wen Cheng's children and grandchildren in the future will all be like him."
Perhaps Zhu Ying was just fooling around at first, but later he realized that this was actually a very good training opportunity for the pampered princes and grandsons.
Throughout the ages, succession issues arising from short-lived emperors have usually triggered turmoil in the entire country, most notably the proliferation of powerful ministers.
Ye Yueqing also knew that he could not interfere with Zhu Ying's decision, so he could only sigh.
"That much?"
At this time, Zhu Ying happened to open the statistics book and couldn't help but speak.
Ye Yueqing took a curious look.
I saw the words above: Recording the list of examinations in various prefectures and counties in the 31st year of Hongwu. The total number of scholars was 327,654.
This is a very exaggerated number.
In the past, scholars were not poor scholars, but truly privileged ones.
Not kneeling before officials, exempt from corvee service, exempt from taxes, etc.
The imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty was based on quotas. The total number of people in one period was only four to five hundred people across the country. The candidates were selected based on their rankings.
Since Zhu Ying was canonized as the grandson in the 25th year of Hongwu, he has been gradually reducing the privileges of scholars and candidates.
At the same time, schools were opened vigorously.
Initially, the Qunying Chamber of Commerce funded the establishment of schools in the capital, and then launched a five-year compulsory education system, which was directly implemented nationwide.
Since the 27th year of Hongwu, basically all prefectures and prefectures have been laid out, and most of the upper and middle counties have also been included. Only some particularly poor lower counties have not yet been completed.
In the 29th year of Hongwu's reign, the privileges of scholarly scholarship were completely abolished.
Faced with this situation, scholars all over the world naturally complained a lot, but unfortunately Zhu Ying didn't care about their opinions at all.
The people have been talking about it for a while, but there is no news in the court, and this matter has never been mentioned even in the memorial.
For a large family, the resources of a scholar are not a big deal, and there is no need to quarrel with the great-grandson for this.
Landowners and powerful gods could not unite to fight against the imperial court.
The more shoes you wear, the more scruples you have.
As for some old scholars, not to mention, they can only complain a few words.
At the same time, Zhu Ying promulgated a new regulation at the end of the 30th year of Hongwu, that is, there will no longer be a limit on the number of places for scholars to be admitted.
In fact, this news had spread a long time ago, and Zhu Ying also mentioned this matter at the court meeting, but it was delayed for half a year until the end of the year before it was implemented.
To put it simply, each province will issue a set of test papers, and then candidates will answer them.
As long as you reach the first-class score, you will be awarded the title of scholar.
However, the title now is obviously more valuable than before, and the difficulty of the test paper is not too high.
The sudden appearance of more than 300,000 talented people may seem surprising, but in fact it is normal.
However, this is the first time in history that such a thing has happened.
Because of the delay in collecting data, the statistics of what happened last year were not completely completed until this year.
"How do we arrange the placement of so many talented people? We can't just leave them alone." Ye Yueqing asked with some confusion.
Zhu Ying smiled and said: "So, now is the time to carry out some major reforms in the Ming Dynasty's official system."
In fact, Zhu Ying has always had ideas about the reform of the official system.
How many people are there in Daming today?
With the economic development of the Ming Dynasty, the number of people in the last population census exceeded 80 million.
The past few years have been peaceful and stable, the court encourages more children, and the population continues to rise.
The number of babies born has probably reached a very high limit.
Not to mention that it is more common now to have enough food and clothing. Even when there was no food in the past, it was always the case that when you were pregnant, you would give birth, and after you gave birth, you would continue to give birth.
On the other hand, how many officials were there in the Ming Dynasty?
According to current statistics from the Ministry of Household Affairs, there are more than 28,000 people with official registration, not even 30,000.
And these 30,000 officials had to govern the Ming Dynasty's 80 million people.
Even in the case of separation of military and political affairs.
It is simply outrageous that a county magistrate, who is a local official, has almost all the power over people's livelihood.
If there is some lazy administration, the economy of the entire county will be completely stagnant, and government affairs will pile up.
The demands of the people at the bottom cannot be resolved at all.
In other words, even now, most people listen to the clan's arrangements.
It is still difficult for imperial power to go to the countryside.
At this time, a eunuch came to report: "Your Highness, Your Majesty has summoned me."
Zhu Ying smiled at Ye Yueqing, already guessing that it was about the three hundred thousand scholars.
He immediately got up and headed to the Huagai Hall.
In the canopy palace.
Zhu Yuanzhang was scolding Ren Hengtai, the Minister of Rites.
"It's just nonsense. For such a big thing, why didn't you tell us earlier how you became the Minister of Rites?"
"Our eldest grandson doesn't understand this. Don't you understand the key to the imperial examination even though you have been in the Ministry of Rites for so many years?"
"You really dare to give 300,000 yuan to a scholar. When did our Ming Dynasty scholars become so worthless?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's heart was bleeding.
Every scholar must be rewarded with land, at least ten acres of fertile land.
Three hundred thousand scholars, this is three million acres of fertile land, are you crazy?
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang actually did not know that the privileges of scholars had been cancelled.
Since Xiao Wencheng was born, most of the imperial power has been gradually transferred to Zhu Ying.
These powers are jointly held by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying, which is equivalent to both having decision-making power.
Since decentralizing power to the court ministers, Zhu Yuanzhang has gradually reduced the number of inquiries about his eldest grandson's arrangements.
Firstly, Zhu Yuanzhang was old and his energy was somewhat unable to keep up.
Secondly, it also reassures the eldest grandson.
This kind of behavior can be regarded as a smooth transition of imperial power. At least after his death, the entire Ming Dynasty will not have much shock.
For ministers, there is basically no difference between Taisun's decree and His Majesty's decree.
Zhu Yuanzhang was not completely indifferent, but his interests were mostly focused on taxation, military affairs, firearms, and some affairs of all nations.
Ren Hengtai, the Minister of Rites, was completely confused.
He did things according to Taisun's request.
If you haven't told your grandson yet, how can he?
Taisun just came with an order. How could he be allowed to resist the order?
At this moment, Ren Hengtai did not dare to blame his grandson, otherwise he would die faster.
He could only lie on the ground and kowtow: "Your Majesty, forgive me, Your Majesty, forgive me!"
Accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger. He was really afraid that His Majesty would just issue an order and have the Jinyi guards drag him out and chop him down.
Don't tell me, Zhu Yuanzhang really has this idea now.
At this time, the eunuch came to report: "Your Majesty, Your Highness Taisun is here."
"Let him come in." Zhu Yuanzhang's face didn't look very good.
Zhu Ying who was outside the door didn't think much and walked in directly.
Seeing his eldest grandson, Zhu Yuanzhang's murderous aura immediately disappeared, but he still felt a little sulky.
"Grandpa, there is great news today. The number of scholars in our Ming Dynasty last year exceeded 300,000."
Zhu Ying said to Zhu Yuanzhang with a smile.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, his face froze.
I have the intention to get angry, but I suppress it.
All I can say is: "Dasun, three hundred thousand talents, what a burden this will bring to our Ming Dynasty's treasury."
As soon as these words came out.
Ren Hengtai, the Minister of Rites, who was kowtowing below, was stunned for a moment.
Zhao Mian, the Minister of Hubu, and Zhan Hui, the Minister of Personnel, who were standing respectfully next to them, were also stunned.
Only now did they realize that His Majesty did not know about the cancellation of the scholar's honors and privileges.
Ren Hengtai, the Minister of Rites, felt very aggrieved.
What a disaster.
Zhu Ying paused and explained: "Grandpa, at the end of the year before last, I had already sent an edict to the Ministry of Rites, asking them to cancel all the privileges of scholars' honors and titles. Now the scholars only have their titles.
It's just me, the other courts don't care."
"Last year, I asked the Ministry of Rites to cancel the quota limit for the admission of scholars, and use the standard answers in the examination papers as the basis. Anyone who can achieve the first-class score in each prefecture will be awarded the title of scholar. This is the origin of the three hundred thousand scholars.
"
After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang realized that he seemed to have mistakenly blamed the Minister of Rites.
But as an emperor, shouldn't the Minister of Rites be right? Shouldn't he tell us in advance?
"Get up, you useless guy, you can't even explain this clearly." Zhu Yuanzhang scolded him again.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
This also made Ren Hengtai, the Minister of Rites, feel relieved.
My back was soaked with cold sweat.
If the great-grandson had arrived any later, he might have died unjustly.
After thinking for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand: "You will go out first."
The six ministers bowed and bowed, then slowly withdrew.
It was obvious that His Majesty wanted to talk to his grandson alone, so Liu He and Jiang Wei naturally walked out.
"Dasun, why did you give so many talents fame at once? From now on, these talents will be ruined."
Zhu Yuanzhang originally did not attach much importance to the imperial examination. He stopped canceling the imperial examination for a few years and then resumed it.
Like the emperors of previous dynasties, Zhu Yuanzhang also felt that officials could not afford more.
If you let people become officials too easily, others will not cherish you, and it will also weaken the imperial power.
Therefore, the overall number of officials is very limited.
Although they are thirsty for talents, it is too exaggerated for you to recruit 300,000 talents.
"My grandson should have told grandpa about this earlier, but he forgot about it, but it's too late now." Zhu Ying explained.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't have much temper with his eldest son, so he nodded and asked his eldest son to sit down and said.
Zhu Ying didn't have anything to be polite about. He directly picked up Zhu Yuanzhang's tea cup and took a sip before he started to say:
"Our Ming Dynasty now has a population of 80 million. This is still the previous number. It is estimated to exceed 10 million, but it only happened in the past two years."
"Such a huge number, but looking at our officials in the Ming Dynasty, the total number is only more than 20,000."
"Including the capital and senior officials from various places, there are probably not even 20,000 people who can actually deal with the affairs of the people."
"For local officials, they have too many government affairs to deal with, so if they relax even a little bit, people's problems will not be dealt with in a timely manner, and there are still only a few officials who really work for the people."
"Most officials, even if they do not take advantage of the people's wealth, have not accomplished much in their official positions."
"Besides, for local officials, their power is too great. From a subtle point of view, this has affected the majesty of the court."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. This situation was actually common in every dynasty.
However, blindly increasing the number of officials is not a good thing.
There were too many people in charge, which made the place more chaotic and increased the salary burden on the court.
But for today's Ming Dynasty, official salaries are no longer a big deal.
Zhu Ying continued: "Today's official system is fundamentally inherited from the previous dynasty and even the Song Dynasty. The shortcomings here have never been solved."
"So Sun'er has been thinking about how to reform the Ming Dynasty's official system. Later he thought that increasing the number of officials and detailing the jurisdictional responsibilities might be a good way."
"This is why we want to relax the restriction on the number of scholars and increase the number of grassroots officials."