Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

On the new crooked neck tree, crows flew over.

"Gah~gah~gah~"

Looking at the silent three people, Jiang Xinghuo spoke.

"Obviously, you should all realize that in the first part of "State Management", the management of the feudal country, the root of the problem lies with the people who actually implement the management of the feudal country, that is, the petty official class."

"We have said before that petty officials have no way to rise, so they can only seek wealth. Every time the average levy increases, the local petty officials will spread the average levy many times to ordinary people. This That’s how they ask for money.”

"But can we not carry out tax reform because of this? Or, in the face of fierce public opinion, can the new Yacheng envoy continue to collect a series of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, including 'money rates'?"

The answer to Jiang Xinghuo's question is obvious.

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said: "I don't think it can be done. The situation is forcing it. It can't be done without changing."

"That's it." Jiang Xinghuo said, "The management of feudal countries, especially the tax management of feudal countries, has always been characterized by 'light taxation, heavy hidden taxation, and a bottomless pit of heavy levies and miscellaneous taxes'."

“In addition to the regular taxes clearly stipulated in the laws of feudal countries, there are also various miscellaneous taxes with clever names, which not only increase the burden on ordinary people, but also provide an excuse for officials at all levels to impose excessive taxes, which will inevitably intensify conflicts over time. So it is said , just like the new Yacheng envoy must consolidate a series of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, including "money", all dynasties have also implemented a consolidated tax system, and the result is just like Huang Zongxi's law, the merger The more times it happens, the heavier the burden will be on the people."

"In Mr. Jiang's opinion, how should we solve the problem?" Zhu Gaoxu asked after thinking for a while.

Jiang Xinghuo said with confidence: "The root of all problems lies in official governance. The root of official governance is the same as the meaning of the word 'official governance'. It is not the officials but the officials. If we don't solve the problems of small officials, what kind of problems will they have?" Nothing can be solved."

"But now the problem of petty officials, the stacked bed-and-frame house structure managed by successive feudal states, can no longer be dealt with lightly."

This reason is very simple, just like there is a wise saying in the coding community: "If the code can run even if it has bugs, then please don't modify it anymore."

Because the layers of bug code are piled up one by one, the entire system will collapse immediately with one move.

When it comes to the issue of official governance, it is the same.

Jiang Xinghuo's words shocked everyone because Jiang Xinghuo started to list numbers for them.

"In order to ensure the smooth operation of the management of a feudal country, the feudal dynasty must have a top-down system. In the Han Dynasty, the total number of officials was about 7,000; in the Tang Dynasty, there were about 17,000; in the Era, there were "redundant officials" 'In the famous Northern Song Dynasty, the number doubled, to about 34,000 people; but now, there are more than 40,000 people."

Hearing this, even though it was the second time he heard it (the first time was in the tax guard section), Zhu Di still shuddered slightly.

His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty has never compared the number of officials under his rule with previous dynasties, so it is only now that he is surprised to find that the total number of officials in the Ming Dynasty has exceeded that of the Iron-Blooded Song Dynasty, which was the most criticized for its number of officials. .

And Jiang Xinghuo's heartbreaking comments continued.

Every word seemed to stick in Zhu Di's heart.

“By combining regular taxes and miscellaneous taxes, results can be achieved in a short period of time, but fundamentally speaking, it cannot solve the problem of excessive tax burden on ordinary people, because there are institutional constraints on officials from levying new taxes. The ability to tax is not restricted."

"With the historical process year after year, feudal countries will always face the dilemma of lack of money. I have talked about this problem before when talking about 'making a big watermelon' and 'tax soldiers and guards'. Feudal countries have no way to expand outwards. Financial sources such as commerce (the Iron-Blooded Song Dynasty is an exception) will inevitably turn their attention to ordinary people."

"Then according to Huang Zongxi's law, new exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes will emerge, and the burden on ordinary people will become larger and larger. In other words, they will fall into an almost infinite vicious circle, and the petty officials will be trapped in this vicious circle. Up and down its hands.”

"Looking at the root cause, why?" Zhu Gaoxu asked doubtfully.

Jiang Xinghuo replied: "Because the feudal country lacks effective restraint on the civil servants and petty officials, the imperial power is the only force that can compete with them. But the problem is that the imperial power and the eunuchs, nobles, and nobles who are attached to the imperial power. Relatives and clans, even if they are tied together, cannot be called a single entity compared with the civil servants and petty officials scattered throughout the country."

Zhu Di thought for a long time and suddenly asked.

“Is it useful to increase the supervision agency for petty officials?”

——————

"is that useful?"

Zhu Gaochi pondered for a moment, shook his head and said: "Although the supervision agency will be increased, this will allow the supervisory agency and the petty officials to check each other. Otherwise, every time I encounter those slippery petty officials, I will always feel that they are as disgusting as flies. Man! It’s not easy to take pictures, and when you take pictures, you’re still dirty.”

“But, I’m afraid it’s still treating the symptoms but not the root cause!”

"Um……"

Xia Yuanji frowned and fell into deep thought. After a moment, he said: "Although the supervisory agency can make His Majesty's control over the local officials below more deterrent, this control is not perfect. After all, the supervisory agency is also composed of people. Moreover, the prerequisite for effective supervision is that the supervisory agency must also strictly follow His Majesty's orders, otherwise it will be equally ineffective. If the supervisory agency cannot do this, it will become a greater burden, and the court will be in vain. more people."

Dao Yan smiled and said: "So, the supervisory agency is a double-edged sword, but the probability of hurting yourself is always greater when you hold this double-edged sword in your hand."

After a pause, Zhu Gaochi looked at Dao Yan: "Master, why don't you continue?"

Dao Yan said: "I think what Xia Shangshu said is right, but there is another important question. How to ensure that the supervisory agency can strictly implement His Majesty's orders? Is it necessary to set up a supervisory agency to supervise the supervision agency?"

As soon as these words came out, Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but widen his eyes.

Well, there’s no end to the infinite nesting dolls.

——————

"Of course, increasing supervisory agencies is a conventional solution. Not to mention whether it is useful to petty officials. In fact, it can be clearly seen from history whether increasing supervisory agencies is useful to officials? Knowing this, then what is the use of it for officials? It’s self-evident whether a minor official is useful or not.”

Jiang Xinghuo simply gave Captain Yan an example of the Iron-Blooded Song Dynasty.

Just like the cruel and unkind Yuan Dynasty had merits in its foreign exchanges, trade, and achievements in astronomy and mathematics, even if it was so rubbish that it "obediently obeyed its ministers and paid tribute to foreign countries, but attacked and persecuted good generals at home", in some specific aspects, our iron-blooded Song Dynasty , also has certain merits.

For example, the monitoring system.

"Song is the most supervisory authority."

Jiang Xinghuo said slowly: "As for the conditions for candidates for the supervisory agencies in the Song Dynasty, nine out of ten Taiwan admonishers (censors) in the Song Dynasty were from Jinshi background. Even if they were not from Jinshi background, they had to be 'specially granted to have the same Jinshi background' to be able to serve as Taiwan officials." Remonstrator. At the same time, the Song Dynasty strictly prohibited the second generation of officials from serving as admonitors in Taiwan, and they must have grassroots work experience, well, that is, they must have at least a resume in charge of one county."

"The performance of duties by the supervisory agencies in the Song Dynasty stipulated that the censor must report once a month, which is called the 'monthly lesson'. The scope of supervision ranged from the prime minister to the hundred officials, from the three provinces to the hundred divisions. Anyone found guilty could be impeached. And if the censor If you do not take any corrective action for ten days after taking office, you will be punished with humiliation."

"For out-of-town inspections by supervisory agencies in the Song Dynasty, the "Chunxi Articles of Legal Affairs" of the Southern Song Dynasty clearly recorded that whether they were Taiwan admonishers or inspectors, they were not allowed to stay in the places they passed for more than three days unless they were on normal official business, and they were not allowed to interact with local officials. Any non-official interactions. At the same time, if the inspection is of interest to you or your relatives, you must recuse yourself."

Jiang Xinghuo finally asked: "So what do you think is the actual effect of such a strict and detailed supervision system in the Song Dynasty on officials?"

"It should be useful." Zheng He said hesitantly.

"I think" Zhu Gaoxu ruthlessly poured cold water on him, "if it had been useful, the Southern Song Dynasty wouldn't have had three traitorous prime ministers, Han Yuzhou, Shi Miyuan, and Jia Sidao, right?"

Jiang Xinghuo: "."

Zhu Di: "."

Zheng He:"."

What does it mean that facts speak louder than words?

What does it mean to be wise and foolish?

"Put it another way." Jiang Xinghuo directly began to discuss the government affairs intentionally or unintentionally, "For example, His Majesty rebuilt the Jin Yiwei for supervision. So some of them feel that if the Jin Yiwei becomes too powerful in a few years, then there is a need for Jin Yiwei. Don’t we need a new inspection agency to monitor this?”

Zhu Di looked at Jiang Xinghuo's clear face, a gloomy look covering his brows.

Jiang Xinghuo, did you see his identity? Are you deliberately teasing him?

Zhu Di opened his mouth to speak, but in the end he said nothing.

However, Zhu Di felt that what Jiang Xinghuo said was indeed reasonable. The Jinyiwei had just been rebuilt, and the manpower and power were still in the initial stage. Naturally, it was nothing, but over time, it would probably become too big. His father, Zhu Yuanzhang, was worried about this at the beginning. Jin Yiwei will be abolished.

Of course, now Zhu Di is not sure whether Jiang Xinghuo meant these words, so no matter how Zhu Di answers, it is not appropriate.

Therefore, Zhu Di looked at his silly boy very naturally.

Zhu Di thought to himself: "Xu'er, it's time for you to be your father's mouthpiece."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't look so naive at this time, and immediately asked Jiang Xinghuo understandingly.

"Mr. Jiang, if Jin Yiwei has too much power, what kind of supervision agency should be set up to supervise Jin Yiwei?"