Emperor Ming Dynasty

The Shaowu Dynasty is [-]% the same as the previous Ming Dynasty, and the other [-]% is a patchwork.

The six central ministries were transformed into eight ministries, and the cabinet took charge of the Ministry of Management. At the local level, supervision and litigation were overseen, and among the people, the three elders were responsible.

That is, the Baojia system was replaced by the Three Elders system.

For the sake of balance and the need for governance, the quota of the three elders cannot be fully controlled by the central government.

Therefore, the most powerful township chief is a veteran or a disabled veteran. Tens of thousands of the 40 million Beijing camp and frontier troops in the country retire every year as if they were just playing for fun.

It is equivalent to the dragon crossing the river, representing the interests of the court.

As for village elders, they are recommended by local gentry and village chiefs. They are required to be highly respected elders who must have at least the qualifications of a child or martial arts student. They represent the interests of local people. It is really difficult for non-locals to mediate lawsuits.

He is a local snake.

The rural police are independently appointed by the county magistrate to catch thieves and key criminals.

Unlike the county magistrate, who is elected for a term of three years, the three elders are elected for a term of five years, and they can serve two consecutive ten-year terms.

It can be said that the relationship between a simple village is extremely complicated.

In name, compared with the previous Baojia system, the power of the three-elder system has been decentralized a lot, but in reality it has been tightened.

Because in the past, Baojia was basically all locals, but now the township chief's breakthrough is like a chokehold for the local area.

Although the village chief of a natural village is elected by the villagers, he needs the approval of the three elders.

It can be said that local control is somewhat stronger.

The three elders can also become a mediator, mediating between the county government and the village to prevent them from getting out of control.

As for the people under the three veterans, they are naturally working in vain. There are always a few landless big men in every township.

"Sure enough, if you encounter a coiled snake, even a dragon crossing the river will have to lie down."

Zhu Yixi smiled and came to the small yamen.

When he learned that he was looking for the mayor, the gatekeeper curled his lips. When he received a cent of money, his eyes lit up, and he pointed to the location and said:
"Sir, you have entered the right temple and worshiped the wrong Buddha!"

"However, the mayor is not here today, so you should go to his house and have a look!"

He shook his head and ignored it.

Zhu Yixi smiled. This township government office is really interesting. Anyone with a little status can enter. It is much more casual than the county government office.

But then he thought that this yamen was not a yamen in the first place, it was just an office they randomly decided to make easier for the county government to find.

On weekdays, there is nothing much going on. The clan has its own rules and the village has its own village rules. There is no major event in the year. The most busy thing is the autumn and summer harvests.

It's completely different from the kind of village office in later generations.

After searching for a while, I finally saw a dilapidated yard not far away.

The door is dilapidated, but at least it is complete. A few patches of gray have peeled off the gray-white walls, revealing mottled colors.

Pushing open the door, there is a well in front of you.

A burly man was carrying water for a shower next to the well.

Two children aged eight or nine were playing with mud and stones nearby with great interest.

Next to her, a woman in a wooden hairpin apron and a round waist was sitting on a horse washing her clothes.

It looks so harmonious.

"Squeak!"

The sound of the door opening immediately caught their attention.

"What does this gentleman do?"

The man immediately panicked, wiped his body casually, immediately put on the single clothes on the side like this, and forced a smile.

Zhu Yixi looked around and saw that the yard was dilapidated, with broken tiles and few furniture. Although it looked neat, it was inevitably a bit shabby.

"Are you the mayor of Wu Township?"

"I am." The man's voice was loud, but slightly polite, and he said with a wry smile: "This young master invites you."

"Although he is the head of the township, he is just a paper boy. Young Master, you have found the wrong person."

Seeing the child bring a chair, Zhu Yixi sat down and said, "I'm here to find you."

"It's just that you are the head of the village, so why do you live in such a shabby place?"

"Sir, please stop praising him, this township chief is nothing!" At this time, the woman couldn't help but put her hands on her hips and said:

"It's also from the same province, just next door. I can't understand what the people here say, and I'm not familiar with them yet. The village elder treats him as a clay Buddha and won't let him interfere in anything."

"Ten yuan a year and ten stones of grain are better than farming, but what's the use? How can I be considered an official?"

Township chief, township elder, township policeman.

From the ninth rank official rank, one can earn ten silver coins and ten stones of grain and grass every year.

His salary was not high, which was deliberately suppressed by the court and the emperor.

According to the principle of one thousand households per township, there are six or seven small counties, a dozen or so large counties, and three elders with 50 people. There are [-] counties in the country, which means about [-] people.

If we don’t lower our salary, we won’t be able to support them at all.

But compared to farmers who dig in the fields every day, this salary is very impressive.

What's more important is to have power and status, which is difficult for farmers to achieve.

Wu Jin was concerned about his face and hurriedly scolded: "What do you know, you woman? We are officials now. Even if the landlord is rich, you have to bow to me when you see him."

"Who is Xiu Cai Gong? How can I compare with you?"

Zhu Yixi smiled.

Wu Jin tells about his origin.

He was originally from Zhenjiang and came from a military family. When Emperor Shaowu entered Nanjing, he simply joined the army. He worked hard for 20 years, acquired more than ten acres of land, and was able to retire at the post of chief minister.

It can be said that he wisely preserved his life and survived, but he was not destined to make meritorious deeds.

"The Beijing camp will not have people until it is 40 years old, and the local patrol camp will not have people until it is 45 years old."

Wu Jin said with great interest: "When I went to the army, according to my qualifications, I could join the patrol battalion as a team leader and manage NO. 80 people."

"I don't want to be a Qiu Ba anymore. It's still more comfortable to be an official. No matter how young a villager is, he is still an official. He is much better than the previous security chief, Jia Zhang..."

As he spoke, he showed a proud smile.

Then he scratched his hair in distress and said: "If I become a team leader, I can go to the county government when I go down to the local government. I can also serve as a clerk in the sixth floor. That would be the ninth grade..."

Just like in later generations, when the military was transferred to a local position, it was customary to use it in a downgraded manner.

But it's different at the bottom.

Because Duizheng is a ninth-grade official, it is impossible for them to be the sixth-grade clerk, so they are basically divided according to grade.

Military attachés who have reached the rank of captain or above will basically retire after retirement, and will take up idle positions in local areas, such as chief secretary, chief envoy, and political envoy.

After all, at the age of 30, you can become a grandfather. If you retire from the army in your [-]s or [-]s, you can provide for your old age. There is really no need to become an official.

As for the expansion of the military, civilian officials will not ignore it. Being an idle official is already merciful.

Due to years of literacy campaigns and military academies, ordinary soldiers need to know [-] words, while the officer class needs [-] words.

Being an official is actually not difficult for military officers. What is difficult is the officialdom.

Wu Jin felt that the man in front of him who spoke Beijing Mandarin was very close to him, and they got to know each other briefly:
"This village has a great reputation. There is an uncle who is a supervisor and a nephew who is a scholar. He is a scribe in the next county. Even the magistrate has to give him some face when he meets him."

"To them, I, a warrior, am just an ignorant roughneck. Those village chiefs don't listen to me..."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but feel extremely distressed.When he arrived in the village, he almost became a seal. He could only seal and sign, but had no right to speak at all.

Zhu Yixi laughed and talked about the way to be an official: "As the third elder, you have to curry favor with the county government, and you have to appease the people below."

"So if you want to gain prestige, the most important thing is to gain support, especially from the county government. The rural police are appointed and dismissed by the county magistrate..."

Hearing this, Wu Jin suddenly understood and immediately held his hand, wanting to make a sworn vow.

Zhu Yixi refused quickly, left two silver coins, and left decisively.

He looked back at the house again and left immediately.

After getting on the carriage, Zhu Yixi sighed: "These three elders have their pros and cons. If you don't have any skills, you won't be able to drive them at all."

"But it's impossible to train the way to be an official, right?"

"However, controlling money and food means controlling lifeblood and people's hearts."

But he had new thoughts about the three elders:

This salary is really too little.

But its base is too large. Even if it increases a little, it will be a huge burden for the court.

But we can't find a solution from the court, we can only do it locally.

Thinking about it in his mind, Zhu Yixi suddenly remembered the salary during the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Basically, officials at that time had three sources of salary: official salary, government money, and official land.

There is no need to explain the official salary. Public money is the fiscal surplus. Officials are allowed to lend money, and the money earned from loan sharking is given to the officials.

This is definitely not possible.

It is simply ridiculous for an official to openly use his fiscal revenue to lend money.

Therefore, the official land system can only be adopted.

A certain proportion of official land was assigned to officials, and the rent paid by tenants was their additional income.

It does work.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were a large number of abandoned fields in the local area, firstly because there were not enough manpower to cultivate them, and secondly because the government did not allow it.

Because sometimes official land is an important financial revenue and belongs to a small treasury.

But Zhu Yixi can be sure that these official lands will be annexed by the gentry, and in the end they will only become data on paper.

You must know that during the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty, two-thirds of the land in the Taihu Lake area of ​​Suzhou was official land.

The payment of official land is rent, which will definitely be higher than the tax.

A large number of gentry swallowed up official land and turned it into private land, but in name it belonged to official land, so taxes were determined according to the rent.

In other words, the heavy taxation in the Jiangnan area is actually a false proposition, because it is not called taxation, but rent.

Then they became dissatisfied that the taxes were too heavy and began to default on their taxes.

"Instead of letting these lands be annexed by others, it is better to turn them into food fields and improve the lives of the three elders."

In this way, he had a plan in mind.

The township chief was entitled to [-] acres of government land, and the township elders and police officers were entitled to [-] acres. This part of the income was managed by the township chief.

Not only did it improve their salaries, but it also provided a boost to the township chief.

It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Zhu Yixi was very happy.

Suddenly, another cry came from my ears.

"Damn it, why are there so many things happening after leaving the palace?"

He lifted the car curtain and took a look. He saw men, women, old and young crying in mourning. It was extremely miserable and embarrassing. There were many government officials nearby watching.

He was unlucky enough to bump into it.

"Ask me what's going on, why you're crying so miserably!"

As we all know, the Yangtze River flows through several provinces, and there are tens of thousands of ships traveling between them. Although there are large ships, they are all small and medium-sized ships, which means that there are many thieves on the river.

There are many thieves on the river, and catching thieves requires quick arrests. Therefore, when there are many thieves, there are also many quick catchers. In large counties, there are as many as a thousand people listed as "subordinate".

In fact, as the saying goes, "The policeman is born a thief." The policeman sitting in the squad room during the day is exactly the robber holding an open fire at night.

One of the most famous detectives in Quanying Tianfu is Hu Ti'an from Shangyuan County. He is a big robber who sits on the ground and divides the stolen goods.

Of course he didn't take action, and he didn't commit crimes locally. Instead, he assigned his disciples and disciples to rob people hundreds of miles away.Because of his cunning methods and wide-ranging reputation, he rarely gets into trouble.

If the case becomes too big and the pursuit is too urgent, Hu Ti'an has one last resort: buying poor people with huge sums of money to "take the blame".

Once, Hu Changde's gang members robbed a cloth merchant named Zhao in Taiping Prefecture, Anhui Province. This man was a local rich man. After being robbed, he reported the crime as usual, but as usual there would be no consequences.

So Zhao hired someone to conduct a private investigation and found out that it was Hu Changde who was the mastermind.

At this time, Hu Changde became angry and immediately ordered his green men to go to his home and beat him to death on the street.

After that, Hu Changde forged an IOU to say that he would not repay his debts, so he was beaten, so that several green men just played with boards and were exiled to Nanyang.

Now, the Zhao family was annoyed.

However, businessmen do not fight with officials, especially officials, and there is no discussion about breaking up their families.

At this time, the Zhao family's business was robbed, which obviously meant that their livelihood was cut off.

As for why you don't care?

The delicate woman said: "The slave family knows that Hu Changde has a brother-in-law who is a master of Shaoxing and works as a master of the prefect of Changzhou..."

"My little master, how can he be so capable?"

Zhu Yixi was shocked.

He thought he had some big background. He never thought he was just a master. This was not an official position.

"Let Jin Yiwei take care of it!"

The emperor ordered with a straight face and returned to the Nanjing Palace.

At this time, the commander of the Jinyi Guards made Chu Yu come over and explain the reason.

It turns out that there are many scholars in Zhejiang and even more people in Shaoxing, so he is commonly known as "Shaoxing Master", especially in criminal names. He is proficient in laws and regulations, and has the secret method of learning from his master. When starting a case, he must first determine the purpose.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Ji Xiaolan jokingly called this generation "Mr. Four Rescues". The most important of the four rescues was: "To save life but not to save death."It is said that the body has the virtue of being blessed by heaven, and accumulating more yin merits will benefit the children and grandchildren.

In fact, "saving lives" is nothing more than redressing injustice. Although it can bring fame, it may not bring any benefits. To save lives, the family members of prisoners must do their best and spend money to buy lives.If you encounter a murder case involving a rich man, if you can find a way to exonerate him, then you can get whatever you ask for, and you can eat as much as you want.

Of course, this requires a joint effort from top to bottom.

Therefore, it is important for a curtain friend to have a broad voice and form a system of his own, otherwise even great abilities will not work.

From this, just like drama, there was a line of succession. Those who studied Xing Ming became their teacher, Master Xing Ming, who was from the Si Yamen, and performed several exercises every year as a filial piety.

After one or two years of this, when you apply for a job, you will have a clear understanding of the entire case-handling procedures from prefectures and counties to provinces.

With the boss taking care of me, my colleagues at the bottom, and my fellow villagers in the middle, everything is going well.

A mere master was able to control the prison.

Therefore, this is why Shaoxing people are more willing to serve as staff. As long as you serve as an official, you will be full of wings, enjoy the success, and become rich.

Officials still have ups and downs in officialdom, but Master makes money every day.

"Master, it turned out to be a cancer!"