Chongzhen Chat Group

Those with good political performance can be promoted, and the higher the official, the greater the salary and the better the treatment. This in itself is an incentive for officials. However, this does not conflict with other monetary rewards. If such policies could be implemented as soon as possible, I believe that Hai Rui, a direct minister during the Jiajing period, would not be so embarrassed!

When Emperor Chongzhen said this, he turned to look at the two people at the front of the queue and said: "Wen Qing and Cao Daban will discuss the specific provisions together. I will take a look at it again. If there are no problems, I can tell the world." ."

When Wen Tiren heard this, he immediately bowed and said: "Wei Chen accepts the order!"

"My slave obeys the order!" At the same time, Cao Huachun also bowed and chanted.

However, Emperor Chongzhen obviously still had something to explain. He glanced at the ministers below and continued: "You should be able to see that the money in the national treasury is getting fuller year by year, and the growth rate is very fast. This depends on the efforts of your ministers. Efforts, as well as the efforts of officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty. I believe that in the future, those who contribute to the court and run errands for the Ming Dynasty will receive the salary of the Ming Dynasty. From now on, there will be no word official, but only officials!"

Everyone was surprised when they heard this. None of them expected that the emperor would come up with new moves every year, and at the end of the year, he would come up with such a big move. Such a thing has never happened in China for thousands of years!

Thinking like this, for a moment, no one spoke, their minds were racing, thinking about this matter.

Emperor Chongzhen ignored them and continued to say according to his own thoughts: "Although the court will increase a lot of salary expenditures for this, I feel that this matter is very necessary. Those who contribute to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty cannot treat them badly! In the past, , The court is poor and has no choice. But I believe that in the future, the Ming Dynasty will become richer and richer, and the court will have more money, which can definitely pay for this expense! What do you think of this matter? "

Although he asked the ministers for their opinions at the end. But his tone was firm, almost categorical. Emperor Chongzhen conveyed his intention to his ministers without any secret.

After Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, the Wenhua Hall became quiet for a while, and no one immediately responded.

Emperor Chongzhen was not in a hurry. He knew that his proposal had never been made before in the previous dynasty. If these Ming Dynasty officials were to accept this proposal, they would naturally have to be given some time.

Bi Ziyan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, first looked up at Emperor Chongzhen, as if he wanted to speak, but remembered that although he didn't get much, he was still on the list, and now he was still guilty, so he lowered his head again and said nothing. .

But his actions were noticed by Emperor Chongzhen. He heard Emperor Chongzhen say to him: "If Bi Qing has any ideas, just tell me!"

After hearing this, these people immediately heard the emperor's attitude, that is, the emperor did not intend to beat all of them to death with a stick! This matter is likely to be raised high and put down gently. The reason why the emperor did this was either because he did not want to punish the public, or because he did not want to hold so many high-ranking officials accountable at once, right? After all, this list includes almost all senior officials above the rank of Minister of the Sixth Ministry, making them the top class of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty. If you talk about it all at once, it would be an appalling thing in any dynasty.

Thinking of this, Bi Ziyan breathed a sigh of relief and immediately reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the number of officials who have been paid salaries in one county is only a few, but the number of officials who work are It's dozens of times greater. If all the officials are given salaries, the guilty minister in charge of the household department will really not be able to come up with this expenditure!"

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but think that all his words just now were in vain. This Minister of the Ministry of Finance really only cares about the present. But you can't blame him. He hasn't seen that after industrialization, social wealth will grow at a geometric rate. The revenue from this treasury will naturally increase at a geometric level. In the future, treasury revenue will probably be calculated in units of hundreds of millions, instead of the previous one million taels. Or maybe Bi Ziyan was frightened by the past that rats could starve to death in the treasury? After all, even his brother, Bi Zisu, the original governor of Liaodong, committed suicide because he was humiliated by Qiu Ba, who was demanding military pay.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen was a little embarrassed to mention that the officials he mentioned actually included those who were undercover. In the government office, there are three categories: officials, officials and servants. These people will be regarded as civil servants in later generations, and they will all receive state salaries. If we must have different opinions, then the slaves among them can be barely equal to the temporary workers in later generations. According to Emperor Chongzhen's idea, those who work in these yamen should be given salaries.

But at this time, he thought about it and decided not to mention the level of service for the time being. Otherwise, if you take too big a step, you may get involved in something like that. This matter can be done in two steps. First, settle the affairs of the officials.

With this in mind, Emperor Chongzhen said to Bi Ziyan: "At the beginning, we can do our best to give these officials a salary that the court can afford. When the national treasury has more revenue next year, we can make further adjustments. I have just said that the treasury revenue will be more and more, and the previous embarrassment will not happen again. Bi Qing can rest assured about this."

Bi Ziyan heard that the emperor did not have the idea of ​​​​getting everything done in one step, and he repeatedly emphasized that the revenue from the treasury would be increasing. Thinking about the situation in the past few years, and then looking into the future based on the current situation, it seems that this is really the case, so I have no more words.

In the Wenhua Hall, it became quiet again. Everyone saw that the Minister of Household Affairs actually raised objections, but although the emperor gave in, he did not give in at all on issues of principle, such as the salary for officials. At this time, they understood how determined Emperor Chongzhen was.

The silence didn't last long this time before Wen Tiren bowed and said: "Your Majesty, regarding the officials, to be more serious, everything is in the hands of subordinate officials. The selection can be made quickly or late, and the punishment can be arbitrary. They can be light or heavy, wealth can be invaded or transformed, rituals can be raised or abolished, lives can be taken in and out, lawsuits and prisons can be large or small, and projects can be increased or reduced. Therefore, officials are important, and ministers are I think we should pay attention to it."

When Wen Tiren said this, his expression was very serious: "Since the founding of our ancestors in the Ming Dynasty, officials have not been allowed to serve as censors and are not allowed to take part in the scientific examination. Therefore, most of the people who serve as officials in our Ming Dynasty have failed in the scientific examination. They are students or those with low status. Such people have no hope of future and are often seeking money and corrupting the administration!"

Having said this, Wen Tiren bowed again, showing a hint of admiration and said: "Your Majesty's intention is to give salary and salary, and call him an official, it is equivalent to giving him his background. I think it is to rectify the good governance of the officials!"

In fact, before the Ming Dynasty, officials were not separated into families. It is very common for the three public servants and the nine ministers to be from "official positions". Even in the Song Dynasty, the difference between officials and officials was not obvious. As Wen Tiren said, this difference only began to show up when the Ming Dynasty became the founder. The representative figure among officials is the master. Their salaries are provided by the county magistrates and other individuals who employ them.

Nowadays, the salaries of these officials are allocated by the court as officials, which is considered to recognize their status, and on the other hand, it also reduces the burden of the chief officials. There seem to be many benefits!

In the past, Wen Tiren might not have dared to say these words in front of the emperor. After all, he said this because he was a little dissatisfied with Chengzu. At least as far as officials are concerned, opinions are different. If he speaks out, he is likely to be attacked by the imperial censor and disliked by the emperor.

However, the current emperor is Emperor Chongzhen who traveled from later generations. His style of doing things was different from any previous emperor. Wen Tiren knew Emperor Chongzhen well and knew that if he said this, he would not cause dissatisfaction with the emperor. Or on the contrary, he was seconding the emperor's proposal.

Besides, those annoying censorship officials have been dealt with by the emperor. The newly established Metropolitan Procuratorate also established systems at all levels throughout the Ming Dynasty. They didn't have the leisure to impeach Wen Tiren because they agreed with the emperor.

Wen Tiren took the lead in seconding Emperor Chongzhen's intention, and the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department followed suit and also seconded the proposal.

Generally speaking, as long as the Emperor proposes it, there will basically be no objections from the Chief of Ceremonies. Their butts are sitting on the emperor's side. Therefore, with the second opinions of the eunuchs and eunuchs, the Wenhua Hall became lively again. In the end, this matter was settled. The specific regulations still need to be discussed by the First Assistant Wen Tiren and the Supervisor of Ceremonies.

Emperor Chongzhen was also very satisfied with this. In this meeting, several things were relatively satisfactory. The next step is to find a solution to the corruption matter reported in the factory guard's report.

As the emperor said before, if the ministries themselves feel bad, surrender or reform, there will be no punishment. But now, it is the emperor who has made these evidence public to the public after failing to get the desired result. In this way, even if the board is raised high and lowered gently, it will still hit the person who made the mistake.

The final result was that Li Changgeng, the most corrupt official, and the left and right ministers who were not present were all demoted to Liaodong and became county magistrates again. Nowadays, they are not qualified to stay in the Ministry of Personnel.

Xu Guangqi, the Minister of Rites, was upright and performed outstandingly in the matter of stock dividends. He was transferred to the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and was in charge of the promotion of officials all over the world. Although Xu Guangqi is still the minister, the official department is the head of the six departments. This can be regarded as a promotion and a reward.

The post of Minister of Rites was held by Sun Yuanhua, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites. After all, Sun Yuanhua temporarily took over the post of Minister of Rites when Xu Guangqi left the capital. Moreover, he was a student of Xu Guangqi and was equally knowledgeable in science and technology. Although Xu Guangqi left the Ministry of Rites, there is no need to worry that Sun Yuanhua will change Xu Guangqi's policies. Cao will definitely follow Xiao Gui. Emperor Chongzhen was also relieved about this.

This imperial meeting ended like this. All the ministers resigned, but Xu Guangqi, the new Minister of Civil Affairs, stayed.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Xu Guangqi, who was standing with his hands down, and asked with a smile: "Does Xu Qing know why I asked you to serve as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel?"

When Xu Guangqi heard this, he thought for a moment, couldn't he be upright and be able to rectify the government?

Of course he was a smart man and knew that since the emperor asked this, it must be more than that. After thinking about it for a moment, I roughly guessed something in my mind, and immediately responded: "When Weichen chooses low-level officials from the Ming Dynasty, he will focus on talents with knowledge of science and technology!"

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but smile. Xu Guangqi had indeed guessed his intention.

After listening, he nodded and said with a smile: "Before the Western Han Dynasty, China had many learnings, such as military, Mohist, Legalist, etc., each with its own characteristics. It was a hundred schools of thought contending, each showing its magical powers! The brilliance of cultural knowledge, It is rare for later generations. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism was only respected. But even so, Confucianism also paid attention to the six arts. "

At this point, Emperor Chongzhen paused, shook his head slightly, and then said with some emotion: "But since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, when scholars were selected through the imperial examination, scholars gradually turned to studying the Four Books and Five Classics. In this dynasty, they even started studying They mainly focus on eight-legged essays, and they only want to become a Jinshi and become an official and make a fortune! This cannot be blamed on those scholars. I think it is because the court did not guide them well!"

Xu Guangqi said nothing from beginning to end and listened carefully.

Emperor Chongzhen did not let Xu Guangqi echo him all the time. He just continued to say: "I believe you can feel the power of scientific and technological knowledge. If the people of the Ming Dynasty do not study things to gain knowledge and understand the laws of nature, they will not To learn this knowledge of science and technology and only read the Four Books and Five Classics, our Chinese civilization will definitely be overtaken by the Western Barbarians. One day in the future, when the Western Barbarians have greatly surpassed the Ming Dynasty in scientific and cultural knowledge, with the barbarism of the Western Barbarians, At that time, it will definitely be a disaster for the Ming Dynasty. And I will never allow this to happen!"

Before Emperor Chongzhen traveled to this plane, Xu Guangqi was already obsessed with Western learning. Therefore, when he got along with Western missionaries, he did not hesitate to change his beliefs and devoted himself to learning the scientific and technological knowledge of the Westerners. In this Ming Dynasty, if we want to talk about the understanding of scientific and technological knowledge, no one has a deeper understanding than Xu Guangqi.

If Emperor Chongzhen's words were not deeply touching to others, they were the deepest to Xu Guangqi. Therefore, after Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, he bowed to Emperor Chongzhen very solemnly, and then solemnly assured loudly: "Wei Chen understands your Majesty's will, and Wei Chen will definitely live up to your Majesty's trust!"

If at this time, regardless of the matter, scientific and technological knowledge was immediately added to the content of the imperial examination, even if the current scientific and technological knowledge had begun to spread in the Ming Dynasty, those scholars who had studied hard for ten years and suddenly added unfamiliar scientific and technological knowledge would definitely be Extremely reluctant, there will definitely be a boycott.

But if the imperial court begins to favor scientific and technical knowledge in the selection and assessment of officials, with such guidance, more scholars will read and learn scientific and technical knowledge. This level of popularity will increase as quickly as possible. The speed increases. In this way, when the number of people learning scientific and technological knowledge reaches a certain level, there will not be much of a backlash if these new knowledge are added to the imperial examination.

Thanks to anniexie, dick117712, Suifeng Xiaoqiao, Lingwu Feiyang VIP for the reward!