Chapter 363: From the Divine Right of Kings to the People’s Sovereignty
Xu Wei did not directly respond to Su Ze’s words, but said: “Then please invite the Grand Governor to summon the prefects of Southern Zhili and ask everyone what they think.”
Su Ze nodded and said: “One person When planning is short, everyone is planning ahead. That is how it should be. Then, in the name of the Metropolitan Governor's Office, issue a government order to the governments of Nanzhili and ask them to rush to Nanjing to discuss government reform matters." There were originally fourteen state governments under Nanzhili
. , but the Twelve Prefectures are controlled by the Southeast, and Xuzhou and Huai'an are still in the hands of the Ming court.
The most important and prosperous among them are Yingtian Prefecture near Nanjing, Suzhou Prefecture where He Xinyin is the prefect, Songjiang Prefecture where Shen Shixing is the prefect, Fengyang Prefecture where Zhu Congjin, a member of the Zhu Ming Uprising clan, is the prefect, and Li Zhi temporarily The prefect of Huizhou Prefecture.
The other prefectures are not unimportant, but their population is not as large as these prefectures, and their commerce is not as developed as these prefectures.
After Su Ze returned from a great victory in the north, he convened a meeting with the prefects of Southern Zhili. Naturally, everyone did not dare to delay, and soon gathered in Nanjing.
During this period, Su Ze learned through the Clippers what happened in the capital after he left the north.
After King Yu ascended the throne, all kinds of troubles occurred in the capital. As expected, given the virtues of the Zhu Ming royal family, the capital's life was still so bad after Long Qing ascended the throne.
In the historical timeline before Su Ze's time travel, some people had a relatively high opinion of Long Qing, and even believed that if Long Qing could remain emperor for a few more years before dying, the Ming Dynasty would still be able to revive.
In fact, the reason why the emperor Longqing was rated well was that he died early.
If Wanli had died early, he would probably have been hailed as a wise king.
After Longqing ascended the throne, his inner court expenditures were even greater than those of Jiajing.
For example, the Aoshan Lantern Festival that had been discontinued during the Jiajing Dynasty was resumed as soon as Long Qing ascended the throne. Such a Lantern Festival Lantern Festival would cost tens of thousands of taels of silver.
Another example is Long Qing's enrichment of the harem. His sudden death soon after taking the throne was also related to excessive indulgence.
Many of the Longqing Kaihai and Longqing New Deals were just a continuation of the policies of the Jiajing Dynasty. For example, the maritime ban had already existed in name only in the last years of Jiajing. What's more, the Longqing Kaihai specifically opened a port like Zhangzhou Yuegang, which was inconvenient. It was not at all the comprehensive opening that later generations thought it would be.
So Long Qing's series of operations were all within Su Ze's expectation.
After being King Yu for so many years! Can't you still enjoy it after ascending to the throne?
Such Ming court does not even need to specifically smear it, the people in the capital will naturally make up various rumors and jokes to attack them.
Su Ze still focused on the reform of southeastern government affairs.
The reason why it is so urgent is because there is a huge talent gap in government affairs!
Relying on the accumulation of Fuzhou Naval Academy, and Su Ze relying on Chang Ningwei's team, there is no shortage of military talents.
After the Battle of Dagu, the Ming Dynasty will not continue to have large-scale conflicts with the southeast in the short term. Military construction only needs to develop steadily at the original speed.
However, with the expansion of territory, there is an increasing shortage of talents in government affairs.
Even for a magistrate like Zhu Congjin who resigned from office in an official letter a month ago, Su Ze could not find a replacement for him and could only let him continue his job.
The prefects gathered in the court hall of the governor's office in Nanzhili. Su Ze had a large table brought in, printed out the meeting materials, and then asked everyone to sit at the table to discuss matters.
Looking around, everyone is in different states.
Shen Shixing was in the most relaxed state. Songjiang Prefecture under his rule was the prefecture with the highest tax revenue in Zhili Province in the whole of South China. The annual commercial tax paid by Songjiang Chaoguan was equal to the taxes of two or three prefectures in Fujian.
Shen Shixing is very capable at work. It only takes him half a day to handle ordinary government affairs. The next time he will be patrolling the Suzhou Mansion. He has an easy-going personality and is good at communication. He has a good relationship with everyone in the Songjiang Mansion. Songjiang Scholars in the mansion all said that he had the talent of being a prime minister and an assistant.
Second only to Songjiang Mansion is Suzhou Mansion. He Xinyin has lost a lot of weight compared to the last time we met. His thick dark circles look like an old scholar with a bright head but no experience.
He Xinyin rarely interfered with other affairs of the government office in Suzhou. He only focused on writing and revising the code.
Although he seemed to be indifferent, if his officials violated the law, He Xinyin would also be ruthless when enforcing the law.
People at that time called these two magistrates, Shen Shixing governed Songjiang with Huang's family, and He Xinyin governed Suzhou with Legalism.
Li Zhi, Su Ze's uncle-in-law, was originally a county magistrate in Zhejiang Province. Because of his good political performance, he was promoted to Huizhou Prefecture as acting magistrate.
Huizhou Prefecture is also an important commercial town, and Huizhou merchants have huge influence throughout the Ming Dynasty.
Li Zhi was influenced by the New Learning over the years, and his thoughts gradually matured. When he served as the magistrate of Huizhou, he put forward a series of new views on the New Learning.
For example, Li Zhi advocated the "True Self Theory" and believed that "pursuing human desires" is the law of nature, and was particularly opposed to the ethical relationship of the Three Cardinal Principles and the Five Constant Virtues.
Li Zhi wrote several articles in succession, "On the New Family", "New Life", and "On Marriage", all of which criticized the father-son relationship and husband-wife relationship in marriage and family, advocated women's liberation, and advocated the small family model.
At the same time, Li Zhi also resolutely opposed all forms of slavery, severely cracked down on various personal dependence relationships in Huizhou Prefecture, liberated domestic servants, domestic slaves and generations of tenants, strictly controlled adoption relationships, and prevented large families from controlling through adopted children. Personal freedom.
Li Zhi also advocated business, believing that pursuing profit was a behavior consistent with human nature, and believed that businessmen were no lower than scholars.
At the same time, Li Zhi abolished the privileges of officials and scholars on a large scale in Huizhou Prefecture, and resolutely implemented Su Ze's policy program of "the officials and the gentry should work as errands and pay the grain together".
Therefore, Li Zhi received the most criticism and attacks when he was in power. Scholars in Huizhou Prefecture published articles in the "Jingshi Bao" to criticize him.
As for Li Zhi, who was an arrogant Confucian, he also quarreled with these Huizhou scholars in the "Jingshi Bao", and the exchanges between the two sides were very lively.
Finally, there was Zhu Congjin, a member of the Zhu Ming clan. He looked like a good old man and was trembling in front of the conference table.
Su Ze appointed him as the magistrate of Fengyang, which was considered as a gift to let the Ming court officials know the treatment for the first contributor to the uprising. Su Ze did not have much expectations for Zhu Congjin's ability.
When there are enough government personnel, they will naturally find a noble position to support him.
In addition to these prefects, Su Ze also arranged Wang Xijue and Xu Guo to attend the meeting.
The two of them and Shen Shixing looked at each other, and they both saw the joy in the other's eyes to meet old friends. In the future, this three-member team will serve under Su Ze.
Shen Shixing also smiled bitterly. Since the beginning of the imperial examination, the top two candidates in the imperial examination have rebelled one after another. I am afraid it will be an anecdote in the history books in the future.
After everyone was seated, Xu Wei presided over the meeting and said,
"The Governor has convened a meeting to discuss the reform of government affairs in the Southeast."
Su Ze took the words and said,
"South Zhili is the most important thing in the Southeast, so reform will naturally start from South Zhili. First of all, all of you are officials at the prefecture level of Nanzhili. Please speak freely." Everyone, look at me and I look at you. What surprised Su Ze in the end was that the first one to speak was Zhu Cong. Dip this Fengyang Prefecture magistrate.
Zhu Congjin first said: "Grand Governor, my subordinates read the "Book of the Ming Dynasty" written by you in the capital, and felt that it was enlightening. This article really hits the mark." "The revolution of Yuan and Ming Dynasty changed the king's power to heaven.
" Because sovereignty belongs to the people, this statement has shaken the legal authority of the Ming court!"
Su Ze looked at Zhu Congjin, but he did not expect that the first person to say such words was him, Zhu Ming's former clan member.
Su Ze's theory of the Yuan and Ming revolutions is precisely the most important part of his article, but most people's attention is focused on the warning to the Ming court in the second half.
Zhu Congjin added: "When I was in Shanxi and when I was the prefect of Fengyang, I thought of a question." "In
the past two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, there have been many famous ministers and good ministers. Why is it still declining day by day? "
Power comes only from the top. All the officials in the department are subordinate to the superior officials, all the subordinate officials are subordinate to the superior officials, and all the ministers are subordinate to the emperor. This is the cause of the corruption in the Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Congjin said: "My subordinates want to say that Fengyang Mansion A little story."
He said slowly: "The yamen of Fengyang Mansion has two hundred people including department officials and yamen servants. They have to have a meal at the yamen at noon, so my subordinates told this matter It was handed over to a scribe in the household department to do it, and the food standard was set, one tael of silver per person per month." "Half of
this silver will be deducted from the salary, and the remaining half will be subsidized by Fengyang Prefecture Yamen ."
"This clerk usually works reliably and his hands and feet are clean. However, just a few days after the implementation, the ordinary clerks and government servants complained and brought the matter to their subordinates." "It turns out that the clerk of this household
department , all of them are given a standard of four taels of silver per month for high-ranking officials in the prefecture's yamen, clerks and other clerks and other officials above the third level (as mentioned above, officials are divided into six grades), while ordinary officials and yamen servants are given a monthly salary of four taels. A person earns half a penny a month."
"Therefore, every meal of my subordinates has meat, while ordinary government servants only have vegetables to eat. It is better to buy vegetables, cook them and bring them to eat." "
This clerk does not have Being greedy for Mo's money turned the government's good policy into a bad one. His subordinates removed him from his job, but instead of punishing him, they were thinking about why he did such a thing?" Su
Ze After listening to Zhu Congjin's story, he immediately said:
"Power is only responsible for the source of power. The power of these scribes comes from you superior officials. Naturally, there is no need to care about the opinions of ordinary government servants."
Zhu Congjin was stunned. He quickly said: "The Governor really hit the mark! Exactly!"
Zhu Congjin added: "When my subordinates were in Shanxi, they belonged to the Zhu Ming clan. According to the regulations of the Ming court, they should be able to receive salary every month. Rice."
"But for a poor clan like us, even if we go to local officials to receive rice in the name of a clan, we will often be pushed around, short of the money, and sometimes even directly deducted." "And
. Those close-knit princes or large princes can often occupy a large amount of official and private land, and there will be no shortage of the money they should have." "The words of the
Governor really explain the crux of the Ming court's problems. ."
Su Ze asked: "How did Magistrate Zhu solve the problem of Fengyang Prefecture's lunch?"
Zhu Congjin said: "So it's easy to get started. There are many restaurants in Fengyang Prefecture, so I will let the prefecture handle it." The officials and government servants in each house selected representatives, and then asked the restaurants in Fengyang City to deliver food according to Japanese food standards, and finally selected a restaurant with high quality and low price. Now everyone in the government office is very satisfied with the lunch." Su
Ze He looked in surprise at the Zhu Ming clan who became the prefect for his first contribution in the uprising. His generous face looked like that of an ordinary farmer. He didn't expect that he could come up with such a method.
Zhu Congjin added: "After reading the "Book of the Ming Dynasty" written by the Governor, my subordinates felt that they had an enlightenment and realized some truth." "The problem with the Ming Dynasty is that both the monarch and his ministers believe that the monarch's power is given by heaven
. Because the king's power is granted by heaven, there is a saying that everything is only for the king." "
As for officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty, if they want to be promoted, they only need the satisfaction of their superiors. Naturally, they do not have the common people in their hearts." "
Everyone only needs to serve their superiors well, and the officialdom will be the same. It has become a fighting ground for tigers and a den for jackals. That is why there are so many corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty who prey on the common people, and there are so many subordinate officials who work for the tigers." "The governor said that power is only responsible
for the source of power. Power comes from above, so all you have to do is be above."
Everyone was silent.
He Xinyin looked at Su Ze worriedly.
Su Ze immediately applauded: "Zhifu Zhu's words are really my close friends!"
Su Ze said: "Zhifu Zhu's approach is to change the power of the king from heaven to the sovereignty of the people, and the people who eat in the government office will recommend and evaluate them. People, let them decide the dishes and tastes, this method is wonderful!"
But after Su Ze finished speaking, Li Zhi suddenly said:
"Grand Governor, it is true that sovereignty lies with the people, but how can this people be summed up in one word? "
When the officials and servants of Fengyang Prefecture eat, they have the same position. They want to eat delicious food with less money." "
But when it comes to governance, the people are diverse."
"Wealthy businessmen are People, farmers are people, and workers in workshops are people. Their ideas are very different, and their demands are completely different." "
Even if they are hired workers, I have seen all kinds of people." "
For example, the ones in Huizhou Prefecture. Huizhou ink craftsmen are famous all over the world. Ink craftsmanship is mostly passed down by families or masters and apprentices. There are well-known ink-making masters, and the Hui ink they make is more expensive than gold." "But in recent days, some craftsmen in Huizhou Prefecture have invented new ones
. The ink-making process does not need to use lamp ash as the raw material as in the past. Instead, the process has been improved to directly use coal ash to make ink ash in large quantities, and then use cheap medicinal materials to mass-produce it. The price of Hui ink has also dropped a lot, although it is not as long-lasting as traditional Hui ink. "The ink has a fragrant fragrance far away, but it is also cheap enough that many people can afford it." "
The craftsmen who make traditional Hui ink united and went to the government to file a lawsuit, demanding that the ink produced by the workshops that use the new method to make ink, You can't use the name Hui Mo."
Everyone present laughed at first, and then started to think.
In Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, there were also incidents where traditional weavers wanted to burn down the looms in their workshops.
Li Zhi said: "Sovereignty lies with the people. Which people are these people? How to balance the needs of various people?"
(End of Chapter)