eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 741 Don’t be the chicken that kills the chicken to scare the monkeys

Zhang Cong rested at the imperial envoy's residence at night.

After dark, several figures entered his room.

The person who came was also an acquaintance of his, Ma Bin, deputy envoy of Jin Yiwei.

The emperor sent such a person to him, and his intention was naturally self-evident.

"How about it?"

"Informants in Jinan City have reported, and there are many people in the city."

After several years of hard work, Ma Bin has grown a beard. He has a calm and calm face, a little fierce, which are all brought about by his career in the past few years.

"Who is he? What do you want to do?" Zhang Cong asked calmly.

Ma Bin shook his head, "There are just a lot of people, there is no specific movement. But it should be the informants of various prefectures and counties."

Zhang Cong did not panic, "You always have to let people see. If you don't see clearly, they must feel uneasy."

Secretly, the situation is already very tense.

On the surface, Shandong's officialdom still seems to be experiencing a warm spring breeze.

There is a reason for the emperor to choose Shandong. Liu Jian has been in Shandong for so many years. A person who has served as a chief minister has become a governor, but he is just the officials of the Sansi Yamen and various prefectures. Counting all these people, each one has his own mind. In his heart, it was absolutely impossible for anyone to overturn the governor's order to go out.

Although the six prefects were all a little panicked by the imperial court's Qingtian Order.

But the purpose is clear.

Liu Jian first called them and the chief officer of the three envoys to the Yamen.

"The imperial envoy has arrived. You are all imperial officials in charge of several counties, or even more than a dozen counties. I have also inquired from many sources. The Qingtian Order is the emperor's will, and there is absolutely no sense of fraud in it. In the history books, Killing chickens to scare monkeys is a bad trick, so don't let yourself become the chicken that is killed at this time.

There are some county magistrates in more than 100 prefectures and counties. According to my official opinion, they should not come.Forget it normally. You can't be careless at this time. When you go back, you have to ask one by one what the reason is. Unless you are sick, if you delay it intentionally, I still want to find someone else.Don't let these people drag one of you into the water for their own sake. It won't be worth it. "

In fact, the prefects were still nervous.

To be honest, if you are a local official and are as honest as a bowl of boiled water, there are still very few such people.Most of them will still have good relations with the local big families, have contacts with each other, and can use each other at critical times.

Officials don't get to know shitty people, and you are of no use to them.

But big families are different. Some families have members who are officials in other places or even in Beijing, and some have money.The imperial court's annual taxation task is not easy. Large clans can still help at critical times. They can get through the immediate hurdles first and then find ways to compensate later.

Now we have to clear all the acres, and the problem becomes complicated.

What if someone is found to have a problem, and then he is revealed during the case?
This is a very real problem. Zhu Houzhao above knows it, Zhang Cong knows it, and even Liu Jian knows it. If the water is clear, there will be no fish.

But there is no way. What the court wants to do always depends on the operation of this bureaucratic system, so even if they are not willing, they can only force it with decree.

Liu Jian's words today are intended to have such an effect.

Two days later, Zhang Cong really met with more than 100 prefecture and county magistrates, and even distributed the people he brought with him.

The open space in front of the governor's office was crowded with officials who came from all over the country.

What he said was nothing more than the same, namely the emperor's will, the importance and significance of Qingtian, and some 'warning' words.

Later, Zhang Cong borrowed flowers to offer to Buddha and set up a banquet here, with tables arranged in four directions from the courtyard to the outside.In the center of each table is the name of a state or county. The chief official is the county magistrate. The remaining positions are occupied by three specially trained surveyors.

Measurement must have a unified standard. For example, Zhang Juzheng stipulated that 240 steps should be taken as one mu. This caliber should be followed everywhere, otherwise it will be messy and difficult to calculate.

Zhang Cong held a white wine glass and shuttled among the square tables. He said: "Many years ago, I was a county magistrate like you all. I know that managing a county with a population of hundreds of thousands is not easy. Propagating customs, pacifying prisons and lawsuits, and equalizing taxes and servitude, all seem simple, but are extremely difficult to do. Fortunately, there is a wise king in the dynasty. Since His Majesty has been in charge of the country, it is common knowledge that the officials in the capital are not as good as the local officials, especially the county magistrates. , so at least half of you here will be high-ranking officials in the future."

"Don't dare, don't dare, Mr. Ge is polite."

"I'm not being polite, I also think that the emperor's method is excellent. Although the county magistrate is only the seventh grade, he is the most familiar with the people's sentiments. Only when such people come to the court, the court will know the people. If the emperor doesn't promote you, who should he promote? Then again, , this law has been implemented for ten years. There are many high-ranking officials in the court who have the experience of county magistrates. Therefore, the order of clearing land in the world can be implemented. I think you yourself know that some fields under your rule have been hidden, and some fields have been hidden. Well, there are still some donated in the name of other families, but they don’t match the fish scale atlas, so let’s just forget about them. Are these fields in the minority? How much tax revenue should the imperial court lose every year?”

Zhang Cong's official position is too high.

The magistrates present did not dare to say a word no matter how embarrassed they felt.

"Come, drink this cup. After drinking the wine and receiving the order, you will go back to the Yamen to do your business. Once you have done your errands, the emperor will not promote you to your official position. In return for your meritorious service, even if you don't trust me, you should trust Duke Xixian. ."

"Don't dare."

Sparse voices sounded.

Zhang Cong knew that these people were in trouble, but the matter was at this point and there was no other way.

"Mr. Xixian."

Liu Jian slowly stood up and said, "Mr. Zhang Ge."

"You are the governor of Shandong. None of these officials dare to disobey you. Considering the terrain and Dingkou of Shandong, how long will it take for each county to complete the land acquisition?"

Liu Jian naturally observed the etiquette, "Zhang Ge is an imperial envoy of the imperial court, so I naturally listen to him."

"Okay. In fact, you are not listening to me. The situation in Shandong is in His Majesty's mind. When I left Beijing, Your Majesty personally told me that Shandong has the best conditions in all aspects, and the results may be seen within half a year."

Liu Jian understood, "That will take half a year. In half a year, all the counties and counties in the six prefectures, fifteen states, and 89 counties must complete this matter."

After he finished speaking, Zhang Cong waved. This time he not only brought people, but also brought a booklet for registering the land.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was the so-called fish scale album, which was to draw houses, mountains, ponds, and fields in sequence and label them with corresponding names.

But what Zhang Cong brought this time was requested by Zhu Houzhao, and it was actually somewhat similar to a summary book.

It's all blank now.

"In accordance with the emperor's decree, these booklets are distributed to all magistrates and counties. On the cover, each magistrate and magistrate is asked to sign their names. The surveyors brought by me must also sign and stamp."

The basic content here is a summary, which is which county, which township, which household, how many acres of land, whether it is paddy field or dry land, and of course the date and other basic information.

Everyone is an old man in the officialdom and understands the purpose of signing.

If you sign now and fill in the information, it will be available for inspection in every household. If the verification is not accurate in the future, the person who signed will definitely be unlucky.Just like the bricks in the Nanjing Imperial Palace were signed by someone back then.

This creates a lot of pressure.

After all, it has been 11 years since Zhengde was established, and there have been so many court meetings. The court has become very proficient in sending people to verify data.

(End of this chapter)