The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

Chapter 2532 Drag

Everyone who got the news, no matter where they were, was stunned, as if everything was silent.

The Zajia actually took action.

Although this time it was only a warning for those who were minoring in the Zajia family, it also proved that the Zajia family had the power to destroy a large number of scholars in Jingguo.

Among the human scholars, the largest number are Confucian majors, and the largest number are minoring in Confucianism.

There are not many people majoring in miscellaneous arts, slightly less than military strategists, legalists, engineers, and doctors, but more than historians and farmers.

However, the number of scholars who minor in Zajia is second only to those who minor in Confucianism.

It can even be said that in terms of overall influence, the Zajia family is actually second only to Confucianism and military strategists, and far surpasses all other schools.

Especially the low-level officials from all over the human race, they realize that their talents are limited and it is difficult to embark on the path of the Holy Path. Therefore, no matter which family they majored in before, most of them will minor in the Zajia in the end, hoping to obtain higher official positions through the Zajia Holy Path.

Facts have also proven that officials with a minor in miscellany are more likely to be promoted than other officials.

Although if a person who minored in Zajia is punished by Zajia, the impact will be small. At most, his literary courage will be cracked and he will have no hope of promotion to a literary position for life. His talent is still there and it will not lead to death. However, this alone is enough to shake the foundation of the country.

The importance of the country's grassroots has always been equal to that of the top. Any country that despises its grassroots will inevitably end up in chaos or even falling apart.

The grassroots officials had low salaries and were always influenced by their superiors. When they were frightened by the Za family, they immediately fell into panic.

A few days ago, only officials with higher grades and higher literary positions resigned. After the news that Xiangzhou officials were punished by Zajia spread throughout Jingguo, many young scholars with ninth or eighth grades or no grades have already begun to resign.

In places such as Jiangzhou or Xiangzhou that were deeply influenced by the Zajia family, in some prefectures and counties, more than half of the officials complained of illness or old age, and some even died directly.

If a few people resign, Jingguo may impose heavy penalties, but if such a large number of officials resign, the law will not punish everyone, and no one can deal with it.

Jingguo's cabinet had to hold an emergency meeting, but because only low-ranking officials were involved, the Queen Mother was not invited to come forward.

Everyone in the cabinet quickly studied some countermeasures.

First, increase the salaries of lower-level officials and reformulate the retirement system so that lower-level officials can get better protection. However, this kind of protection is only for officials who retire after normal service. If they leave suddenly when the country needs it, they will not enjoy any benefits.

Secondly, anyone who resigns during a special period is not allowed to re-enter the government as an official. No matter what industry he is engaged in or what he does, he is not allowed to enjoy the preferential policies of various places.

Finally, his children, son-in-law and daughter-in-law are not allowed to serve as officials in the court, hold any public office, or receive any canonization from the court.

The cabinet announced the decree the next day.

When they saw the first article of the decree, officials from all over Jingguo felt that it was normal. When they saw the second article, although they were dissatisfied, they all knew that it was normal to do so. However, after seeing the third article, Many officials were either angry or frightened.

Cutting off the path for future generations to enter the court and serve as officials is a huge punishment.

In fact, in many places, some powerful families will hold some public offices, and there are even explicit provisions that they can be hereditary. With this decree, once they resign, there will inevitably be a gap in the succession of power, and once the position is taken away by others, , it is very likely that it will be completely lost, resulting in a significant reduction in the family's power.

Some of those who resigned prematurely began to regret it and immediately returned to the yamen, hoping to resume their posts. However, no matter how deep their relationship with the local officials was, they were rejected.

In this special period, any official who violates the law will definitely be severely punished.

However, this punishment also angered some who were hesitating to resign. Some officials openly criticized this decree and claimed that they did not want to resign, but because of this decree they would immediately resign and leave Jingguo.

In any case, this decree has had a certain effect, and the number of people resigning has been greatly reduced.

Even so, the chief officials in various places were extremely busy looking for suitable officials, and even had to invite back some old people who had retired and returned to their hometowns long ago.

Subsequently, the Jingguo cabinet issued a cabinet order, in an extremely harsh tone, accusing the Za family of harming the human race and interfering in Jingguo's internal affairs when the human race was in danger. This behavior was simply a pioneer in the demon world.

Then, Jingguo asked the Holy Court to make the decision and rule on the matter. The Right Prime Minister Cao De'an and the Minister of Rites Sheng Boyuan went to the Holy Court together for this purpose.

Because they had to accept the ruling of the Holy Court, the Zajia had to stop punishing Jingguo officials. However, the Zajia continued to investigate Jingguo.

The Jingguo Peace Negotiation Department now shoulders the responsibility of accusing the Zong family and Qingguo in the Holy Court. They have adhered to the word "procrastination" from the beginning, and no matter what they encountered, they deliberately delayed it until the end.

Therefore, the Holy Court ruled for a full month, and the two sides did not reach any consensus.

Within this month, without the threat of the Zajia family, few people in Jingguo resigned. However, various parts of Jingguo were not greatly affected by this and continued to flourish.

In this month, Fang Yun will mainly do something that is not honorable but has to be done.

With the explosive development of Jingguo, there is no shortage of people in the farmland, but there is a shortage of people in other aspects. Whether it is mining and logging, or workshop work, people are needed in all aspects.

Because of the shortage, the cost of recruiting workers has increased.

Moreover, with the large inflow of foreign gold and silver, prices in Jingguo began to skyrocket. Before long, the income growth of people in various parts of Jingguo would lag far behind the price increase.

In the past, workshops in various places could exploit workers, but after Fang Yun abolished slavery and formulated a series of policies, those workshop owners did not dare to exploit workers too much. However, if the profit is less, it will lead to slower reinvestment, which will inevitably affect development and technological progress.

Fang Yun had already made preparations, so except for the workshops targeting the sea people, which have a considerable proportion of luxury goods, other workshops mainly produce bulk goods, because the trading market for bulk goods is large and the volume is large, which can drive more manpower and machinery to avoid industrial hollowing out.

No matter how Fang Yun prepared, he could not stop the increase in labor costs, which is an inevitable trend of national development. However, excessive labor costs have become a big problem for many workshop owners. According to this trend, the profits of the workshops will be greatly reduced in a year at most. Some workshop owners are even secretly discussing whether to move to other countries in half a year.

Fang Yun had already made a plan. In order to keep the workshop in Jingguo, he secretly directed and controlled it and began to recruit workers from various backward and poor areas of the human race. In order to gain the trust of people from all over the country, he even paid wages in advance.

At the beginning, it was relatively smooth, but some families discovered business opportunities and began to treat recruitment as a business. As a result, many families and businesses, like sharks smelling blood, began to recruit workers from all over the country and then sold them to workshops all over Jingguo.

Most families or businesses still abide by basic laws, but any business model with low cost, high profit and low technology content will inevitably attract gangs.