Chongzhen and I became partners

Chapter 873 Scope of Imperial Power
On the way back to Beijing, Zhu Cihong was discussing this matter with Fang Zhenghua.

"The government does not go down to the county, there are too many disadvantages in this matter!" Zhu Cihong said with a little emotion, "This road goes from south to north, passing through so many places, although the gentry in most places can still do it, but look, If you encounter someone like Liujiazhuang, killing people in private is really easy. This is not a good thing!"

"My lord is right!" Fang Zhenghua nodded his head immediately when he heard this, and said, "This patriarch has too much power, even stronger than the government. Even if the county magistrate wants to try this case, the final result must be reported to the court and judged." The matter of the death penalty goes straight to the imperial court. But in this countryside, the patriarch makes a decision with one word, and there is no possibility of review at all!"

Speaking of this, he then changed the subject again, and said to Zhu Cihong: "But since ancient times, this has been the case in rural areas. Even if the government wants to control it, it often can't control it!"

After hearing this, Zhu Cihong shook his head and said, "If you can't control it, you still have to control it! The power of life and death cannot be controlled by this kind of country people! Otherwise, what is the law?"

After a pause, he said with a serious face: "The difficulty of this matter lies in the fact that the court's control at the county level is too small, so this kind of situation will happen. After returning to Beijing, I will report to the emperor, see Can this situation be changed!"

Even if it is for the people, it is still good to protect the authority of the emperor. At the time of the rejuvenation of the Ming Dynasty, at least in the eyes of the vigorous Zhu Cihong, this kind of thing must be changed.

This time, if he hadn't met him, the man and woman would have been killed directly.

Although as far as this matter is concerned, it will not affect the rule of the court at all.However, if there are too many such things, it is a big deal!

Zhu Cihong has reason to believe that if the world was in chaos in the early years, or if the imperial court's control over the local area was weaker, then such things would be more common.

Thinking about this matter, when Zhu Cihong went all the way north, he even made a special observation and research on this matter, and finally when he arrived in the capital, he wrote an eloquent Wanyan memorial and presented it to Emperor Chongzhen.

In the eyes of the emperor and the prince, what they valued more was that the local gentry had the power to surpass the local government. They had to mind the power of life and death that originally belonged to the emperor.

Emperor Chongzhen also attached great importance to this matter.

Coincidentally, the case file of Wujin County was also sent to the capital, and it was submitted to the imperial court together with the investigation of the Jinyiwei Yamen itself.

This case is not complicated at all, and Jin Yiwei is watching, and everything is not only fast, but also very detailed.

Including the information about the patriarch's son who was the censor, it was also placed in front of the imperial court.

The son of the patriarch who is the censor is named Liu Guangdou.When Emperor Chongzhen saw the name, he felt a little familiar, so he took out his mobile phone and checked it.

In the end, he really found it.

In the original history, in the materials of Jiangyin 81, there is this information called Liu Guangdou Yushi.

When the Jianlu went south, Liu Guangdou voluntarily surrendered to the Jianlu who went south, and according to the will of the slave chief Duoduo, he recruited and surrendered all the counties in Changzhou, but Jiangyin did not surrender.He personally ran to persuade the surrender, and colluded with the county magistrate.

The information given by Liu Weichao did not mention the final result of Liu Guangdou.However, his name and the disgraceful scene remain in the historical materials of Jiangyin 81.

After reading the information, it goes without saying that Emperor Chongzhen hated this Liu Guangdou to the extreme. Looking at the news about Liu Guangdou from Jin Yiwei's investigation, there was a case of corruption in ink.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen took the matter of Liu Guangdou and his father as a model.

The Chinese New Year is coming soon, but Liu Guangdou was still arrested and ordered to investigate the case by the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

On the Ministry of Criminal Justice, I was just happy because I had an extra Heavenly Police Officer who could manage the vassal state. When I received the task assigned by the emperor, I dared to be negligent, and immediately dispatched capable personnel to Jiangnan to further investigate the case of the Liu family.

At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen naturally consulted Liu Weichao's thoughts on this matter.Most importantly, he still wants to know how the later generations govern the region?
Regarding this, Liu Weichao said with a smile: "In my plane, there are townships below the county, and villages below the township. Those who receive the imperial salary are at the village level."

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was very interested and quickly asked about the specific situation.

So, Liu Weichao introduced it. After listening to Emperor Chongzhen, he concluded: "In general, the imperial court is only at the township level, and the village is more self-governing."

His conclusion is that the village officials are not appointed by the court, but elected by the villagers, which is tantamount to being a village sage.

Emperor Chongzhen said with some regret: "You guys, I don't think I can learn it anymore, the difference is too big!"

When Liu Weichao heard it, he said disapprovingly: "Why can't you learn it? Are there few officials? Don't have too many people who want to be officials, you can expand your recruitment! Your plane, the officials among the officials, I think you need to innovate. better!"

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen remembered that he seemed to have said this before, so he asked quickly: "What do you mean, that all the officials and handymen are transferred to the imperial court and eat the imperial salary?"

"It's very simple. Aren't these officials and miscellaneous servants the ones who worked in the Ming Dynasty? They have no income, and if they just serve, they will definitely think of the power in their hands to make money. It seems that who wrote this How the kind of people turn their hands into the clouds and cover their hands to make money from the rainy land, and how it can be passed down from generation to generation will definitely have a great impact on the administration of officials!"

When Liu Weichao said this, he went to his own bookshelf to look for it, and he really found the book he was looking for, then sat back in his seat, opened the book, and the impression came out, and he said to Emperor Chongzhen: "This The Ming Dynasty under this microscope is based on a few stories summed up from the historical materials of the county annals to describe the situation, let me tell you..."

Emperor Chongzhen was high above, so he would care about the details below.To put it bluntly, Zhu Cihong, who might not have even been out for a visit, knows better about the life of the lower class in Daming.

At this time, listening to Liu Weichao introducing him, he was dumbfounded.

After a brief introduction, Liu Weichao said to Emperor Chongzhen: "This kind of situation should be a common phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty, not just in the place mentioned in the book."

Speaking of this, he thought of something, and said with emotion: "You don't know, there has been a debate in our later generations, which means that the dynasty has been more than 200 years. By this time, social contradictions have already deepened. It can’t be saved. This point of view actually means that the corruption of Daming is already very serious and there is no cure!”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was a little unconvinced and wanted to speak.

But before he had time to speak, he heard Liu Weichao say to him first: "To a certain extent, the thieves' chaos everywhere is actually to break the pots and pans of Daming, and use the force of the thieves to clean them up. The corruption of the Ming Dynasty can only be ruled out in the local area. However, I think that the most important thing is that because of my influence, you have the ability to vigorously develop technology and have the ability to turn the tide!"

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was not in a hurry to speak, and seemed to be thinking about something.

Liu Weichao ignored him, and continued: "It's like sharing a piece of pastry. It's already so big. Any part of this pastry has already been owned. If someone wants to eat it, if you want to touch them, they will definitely not agree. !but……"

This metaphor seems a bit fresh, Emperor Chongzhen immediately looked up, looked at Liu Weichao in the phone, and listened carefully.

"...The tossing of the thieves killed some of the owners of the cake, that is, there is no owner. If you move this part of the cake, you will not encounter strong opposition. Besides, technology is tantamount to taking this The cake has grown bigger, and there are many more cakes that have not been occupied by anyone, so you have more cakes!"

Having said this, Liu Weichao said to Emperor Chongzhen seriously: "When I said this, I just wanted to say that you should take advantage of this opportunity to make the cake bigger, and control all the distribution power of the cake in your own hands. Let them eat what they want. What can you eat, so that you don’t have no cake to eat yourself.”

Emperor Chongzhen was already accustomed to the way he spoke with Liu Weichao, and he immediately understood his thoughts, and confirmed, "You mean, I want to take advantage of this great change to change the status quo of Daming?"

"That's right!" Liu Weichao nodded and said after listening, "Otherwise, your current expansion of territory is just built on a pile of floating sand, and the foundation is not stable. If you are not careful, the Ming Dynasty, which is like a huge monster, will be very difficult. It might collapse because of something!"

It is obviously impossible for Emperor Chongzhen to let this matter happen. Although he felt that it would be difficult to change the local governance that has been in place for thousands of years, he still wanted to do it, so he expressed his concerns Next, ask Liu Weichao for advice.

After hearing this, Liu Weichao shook his head and said, "You don't have to think so hard! It's been like this for thousands of years. It's because the population was too small in the past, so this kind of model doesn't matter. But since your Ming Dynasty, The population is calculated in units of [-] million. In the future, the population will only increase if the peace continues. Therefore, the population of a county in the past is not equal to the population of a town now. The governance method changes from time to time. , it is reasonable!"

"Don't be afraid of the lack of people. Those who have retired from the army have all been trained by the supervising army. Not only are they disciplined, they are also more reliable and loyal. With such a large number of people as your backup, I think you can let go. And these people can be arranged at the grassroots level and have a good job, which in turn will attract more young people to join the army, which is a positive thing..."

(End of this chapter)