Daming Military Empire

Chapter 169
After discussing with a group of cronies, Zhu Cijiong felt that there were too many means to develop the economy, such as developing agriculture to increase food production and vigorously developing cash crops; developing industry to increase productivity and vigorously developing the private economy; you can also raise cattle. Horses, mulberry planting and sericulture.
In short, there are many methods. Apart from promoting steam power and vigorously increasing productivity, the Ministry of Industry needs to develop a large number of civil machinery. The others are actually very simple and can be made by themselves in various places. However, why is the economy of Daming not improving at all?
In the past few years, the economy of Ming Dynasty has not developed at all. The national treasury is filled with the assets of Jiangnan scholar-bureaucrat group confiscated in Jinling. Daily expenses, no balance at all.It's fine if it's like this every year or two, and it's not justified if it's like this every year for five or six years.

The reason Zhu Cijiong is very clear, from the six ministries of the imperial court to the officials of local prefectures and counties, everyone is a monk who hits the clock for a day, not seeking merit but seeking no faults. Wherever the emperor catches, there will be improvement.

Like the Ministry of War, before he was arrested, the 30 troops in Liaodong still had some fighting power. The troops in other places didn’t even engage in daily drills. They fought like a piece of tofu, and they fell apart at the first touch. Obviously, more than 100 million troops were beaten by the 10,000+ troops of the Qing Dynasty, and finally the country died.

In the past few years, when he caught him, the six legions directly attacked Houjin and the Mongolian allied forces and ran away. Now Houjin is about to be wiped out by him!
Like the Ministry of Industry, before he caught it, this department was like air, without any sense of existence.In the past few years, Wang Gong’s factory has been booming, and the weapons it manufactures are of excellent performance and high quality, which can’t even compare with the great powers. Now steam-powered trains have been manufactured, and advanced sailing battleships have also started construction. Prepare to develop various civil machinery to promote the development of productivity.It can be said that it has completely changed from a marginal department to the core department of the Ming court.

What about other departments?The Secretary of General Affairs published the "Beijing News", which is booming and has completely mastered the mouthpiece of public opinion, but this is also what he single-handedly grasped.The departments he didn't ask about are now basically the talent of the air. If you ask if there is any, there must be. Just like people can't live without the air, the court can't operate without these departments, but you have to ask about the merits , Not at all, they really treat themselves as air, just keep the court running, and they don't want to make progress at all.

This is definitely not going to work. The rise of Ming Dynasty cannot rely solely on the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry. That would mean moving forward on one leg, and it would not be fast at all.

How to do it?Is it possible to withdraw them all and replace them with Jinshi from these two subjects?This definitely won’t work. The whole Da Ming Guang has no less than [-] officials above the sixth grade, and the Jinshi of these two subjects is only [-] to [-], which is not even a fraction. Besides, not all officials are useless, because of the general environment, They are just following the trend, maybe in a positive environment, some of them will be better than Bi Maokang, Song Yingxing and others.

This problem is indeed a headache. In the past few years, Zhu Cijiong has been developing the military industry and rectifying the army. When it comes to political means, he has never studied it. He has been thinking about how to rectify the bureaucracy. He has not come up with a practical method for a few days Come.

Just when he was having a headache because of this, things suddenly turned around. He was thinking wildly in his private study that day, when Cao Huachun suddenly came to report outside: "Reporting to the Emperor, Yang Sichang, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Li Banghua, the Censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate ask to see."

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, his eyes lit up. Aren't the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate both in charge of officials? They should know how to rectify the administration of officials!So, he couldn't wait to run to the imperial study and summoned the two of them.

Unexpectedly, before he came to ask questions, Yang Sichang asked him instead. As soon as Yang Sichang entered the imperial study room, he saluted solemnly: "Your Majesty, will the Jingcha plan be implemented this year?"

Zhu Cijiong was taken aback when he heard the words, he didn't know what the Beijing police plan was!It's not that he didn't read much, it's that his father died early, and he never taught him anything about being a king. , So, he doesn't know many things!

It is strange enough for the emperor to treat him like this. If he hadn't had the history books of later generations as a guide, he would have promoted loyal ministers and good generals. It is estimated that the court is in chaos now. Fortunately, he has now realized that he does not have enough control over the government. Now, we are preparing to make great efforts to rectify the administration of officials.

This grand plan of the Jingchao sounds like it has something to do with rectifying the administration of officials. It was exactly what he wanted, and he didn't care whether it was embarrassing or not. He asked directly: "What is the big plan of the Jingchao? Why haven't I heard of it?"

Yang Sichang and Li Banghua were taken aback when they heard the words, the emperor was not embarrassed, but they seemed a little embarrassed.

If you want to say why Confucianism has been popular in China for thousands of years, it is mainly because it has one advantage. Apart from the treacherous and evil people with evil intentions and the paranoid and arrogant rotten scholars, most of the scholars who studied Confucianism in ancient times regarded the emperor very highly. What's more, the so-called heaven, earth, master, teacher, the respect of the emperor can be seen.Therefore, no real scholar would and would not dare to discuss the right and wrong of the emperor.

Yang Sichang and Li Banghua are naturally models of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. Otherwise, Zhu Cijiong would not have allowed them to hold such important positions. Therefore, even Zhu Cijiong does not even know about such an important matter as Beijing’s grand plan. They don’t think it is the emperor’s fault. , but their own fault, it is because they never mentioned the grand plan of Jingcha to the emperor, so the emperor didn't know about it.

After the embarrassment, Yang Sichang quickly explained in detail: "Your Majesty, it's like this. This Beijing inspection is a big inspection of all officials in the two capitals. It was stipulated by the Taizu that the inspection should be done every three years, but it was changed to every six years during the Hongzhi period of the late emperor. It has continued to this day, and this year happens to be the sixth year of the emperor's reign, so it is normal that the emperor has never heard of the Beijing inspection before. As for the big plan, it is an external inspection, which is a big inspection of all local officials in Ming Dynasty , so it is called a big plan, and a big plan is usually inspected every three years, and it has been inspected once in the third year of Chongzheng."

It turned out that the Jingcha inspected once every six years. He has only been in power for more than five years in total. No wonder he has never heard of it. As for the big plan, he may have had it. At that time, he was concentrating on developing military industry and trying to deal with Huang Taiji. He didn't have the mind to take care of things.

But this time the grand plan of the Jingcha came at the right time. He was about to rectify the administration of officials. As soon as he fell asleep, someone gave him a pillow, but what exactly was he looking for? He asked curiously: "What is the big plan of the Jingcha mainly looking at?"

Yang Sichang went on to explain: "The grand plan of the Jingchao has eight goals: greed, cruelty, impetuosity, underachievement, old age, illness, let go, and imprudence. As for the focus of the investigation, it mainly depends on the emperor's decision." It means that the emperor can focus on any subjects he wants to check, and he can add any subjects he wants."

Well, for the officials of the general feudal dynasty, these are comprehensive enough, but the policy he is going to implement now is a bit biased towards the capitalist model, and the subjects must be added. Let’s first ask about the intensity of rewards and punishments. Zhu Cijiong then asked: " After the inspection, what rewards and punishments will officials have?"

Yang Sichang went on to explain: "Above the fourth rank and above are from the Chen Dynasty, and below the fifth rank are first reviewed by the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Officials. They are divided into promotion, demotion, dismissal, and dismissal. They will be compiled into a book and then unified. Leave it to the emperor to decide."

This means that in the end the emperor alone has the final say. Very good, Zhu Cijiong immediately made a decision: "Well, this Beijing inspection plan is very good, it must be done, and it must be implemented. What is the specific process, let me talk about it. I'll think about it."

Yang Sichang explained in detail: "Officials in Beijing will be jointly investigated by the six departments of Shizhong and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and local officials will be jointly investigated by the Ministry of Officials and the supervisory censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate for half a year. Officials report their political achievements to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate sorts out the results of the general investigation and self-report records and submits them to the emperor for decision. Officials below the fifth rank are jointly reviewed by the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate based on the general investigation results, and the review results are compiled into a book , leave it to the emperor to decide."

It sounds like this system is quite strict. Why hasn't it been effective after so many years?This is mainly caused by cronies, like the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party, both regard the Beijing Police as a tool to eliminate dissidents and cultivate cronies. Get out of here.This is also the main reason why Ming officials are slack in politics now. Diligence is useless, as long as you stand on the opposite side, so everyone has to muddle through. When it comes time to inspect, just choose a strong crony to join, even if you have no political achievements, you can still be promoted. !

But now it’s not such a good thing. Both the Shizhong and the supervisory censors have almost been replaced by the two subjects of the Chongzheng Dynasty. In name, they are all students of Zhu Cijiong, and Yang Sichang, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, is also Zhu Cijiong’s confidant. Li Banghua, the Zuodu imperial envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, is a loyal minister who is loyal, patriotic, fair and honest, and his cliques have basically been cleaned up by Zhu Cijiong. All officials must rely on their real political achievements to pass the inspection.

With such a foundation, Zhu Cijiong believes that this time the ghosts and monsters will have nowhere to hide, the corruption problem should be curbed, and the rest is to find a way to get those clean officials to focus on economic development.

How can we get all officials to focus on economic development?Zhu Cijiong thought about it carefully, and then he came up with an idea, and he solemnly warned: "The method is very good, so let's follow this, but the subjects are a bit biased, and they are all based on the investigation of officials' character. What about the benefits? The foundation of a country lies in the people. The so-called people are the foundation of the country. When an official is based on the people, he only cares about his own conduct and integrity. Next time I added a subject to them. All the officials in Beijing will write a memorial to discuss how to make the people's livelihood rich. Points will be added for good writing, and points for bad writing will be deducted; Get to know them well, and give me a report on how many people there are under the rule, how much arable land, the yield per mu of arable land, how many merchants, how many craftsmen, and the annual income. The more detailed the better, do you understand? "

Yang Sichang and Li Banghua naturally praised the emperor's wisdom again and again.

Zhu Cijiong said proudly in his heart: "Hey, this is just the beginning. When the grand plan of the Beijing inspection is over and the report is well written, it will be promoted according to the report. The report will be the basis. I will immediately announce the focus of the next inspection It’s the income increase of ordinary people. It depends on whether you care about it. In the future, all the major plans of Beijing will be inspected every three years to see if you dare to neglect the government. I don’t believe that Ming’s economy can’t be managed like this!”

(End of this chapter)