Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"Jiang Xinghuo, can you really make someone who is illiterate and illiterate be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, and recognize 500 common words in just over two months?"

Now, even Zhu Di didn't believe it.

There is no other reason.

When Zhu Laosi was in school, although he started a little late, his literacy was taught step by step by the world-renowned scholar Song Lian.

Well, he was the one who wrote "Expelling the Huru and Restoring China" and "Preface to Ma Sheng in Dongyang".

So how long did Zhu Di study?

Five hundred words, it took half a year to learn.

If you say Zhu Di is stupid, he is definitely not stupid.

You say Song Lian can't teach, that's even more impossible.

Therefore, Zhu Di drew an intuitive conclusion based on his own childhood experience.

--impossible!

The top educational resources, coupled with my absolutely brilliant mind, and my strong receptivity as a child, add the three together, and it would take me half a year to learn 500 words. Why would I randomly pick up a few prisoners in the prison? Can you learn it in more than two months?

Are you insulting me?

Jian Yi and Ru Ru also shook their heads, obviously they didn't believe Jiang Xinghuo could do this.

Only the old monk Daoyan sat calmly.

he knows.

If there is anything incredible in this world, then it must have been done by Jiang Xinghuo.

At first, he was shocked by Jiang Xinghuo's miraculous ability.

That's why after enlightenment, he tried every means to help his Jiang Sheng open the road to eternal life.

Now, if Jiang Sheng says he can do it, then Dao Yan believes that he can definitely do it.

On the contrary, if you can't do things like arithmetic and literacy, which are still common sense, why should you overturn Neo-Confucianism, which has dominated the world's thinking for hundreds of years?

"There are still more than two months and four classes at most before he is released from prison."

Dao Yan's eyes were profound.

Regarding Jiang Xinghuo's arrangements after he is released from prison, Dao Yan's ideas are completely different from Zhu Di's.

Zhu Di advocated finding a suitable place to actually showdown with Jiang Xinghuo.

After all, as long as Jiang Xinghuo is released from prison, he is not a fool. He will notice the changes he has brought to Daming at a glance.

So since it was impossible to keep Jiang Xinghuo in prison, he had no choice but to confess all this to Jiang Xinghuo.

Zhu Di planned to directly worship Jiang Xinghuo as his national teacher.

Anyway, King Wen of Zhou Dynasty was the first to visit Jiang Ziya at the Fuxi River and worshiped Jiang Ziya as his grand master.

A truth, not obtrusive.

What's more, Jiang Xinghuo's "Fertilizer Immortal" is already well-known. If Zhu Di announces to the officials that the Fertilizer Immortal has come to the world and worships him as the national master, the officials who have already tasted the benefits will not be interested in conferring such a high position where reputation is greater than power. , thinking about it, there wouldn’t be much opposition.

Instead, they expect that the Fertilizer Immortal, oh no, the Imperial Master, will bring them more practical benefits.

Throw out more elixirs and other prescriptions.

This is also the reason why Zhu Di decisively adopted the advice of Longhu Mountain Celestial Master Zhang Yuchu.

The purpose is to build momentum for worshiping the national master in advance.

Of course Zhu Di knew that Jiang Xinghuo might not care about the fame, wealth and power at all, but he expected that he wouldn't object, right?

Dao Yan doesn’t think so!

Dao Yan believes that there are very few idealists like him in the world who are purely for the purpose of fulfilling their ambitions and do not care about life and death, honor or disgrace.

But if he has a fellow traveler, even a guide.

That must be Jiang Sheng!

For idealists, what could really make them stay?

Official position, power, beauty, wealth?

No, it's just a passing moment.

The only thing that can really leave idealists behind is ideals!

What ideal?

The world is unified!

How about Datong?

Overturn Neo-Confucianism!

Only by initiating a change in thinking in the Ming Dynasty can it be possible to lay the foundation for the transformation of the mainstream social trends of thought.

Only when the concept of the entire society changes can Ming Dynasty move towards that new path.

Otherwise, once the heroic and enterprising emperor dies, power will alternate.

The entire Ming Empire will definitely be dragged back to the old path by the gentry class dominated by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

The premise of all this is to overthrow the rule of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

It is not necessary to completely destroy Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, but to degrade it from its dominant position to one of the many mainstream doctrines.

So if Jiang Xinghuo is released from prison and becomes the national master, can this be achieved directly?

Obviously not, Dao Yan clearly realized that if he wanted to open up the road to eternity, he must start from thinking, and start from thinking to fight Neo-Confucianism. The theoretical basis that "they" have now is too little.

After all, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is a theoretical edifice that has gone through more than ten generations of Confucian scholars and has continuously added bricks and tiles to improve it.

But there is another pass here.

——How to make Jiang Xinghuo feel that he needs to realize this ideal?

Daoyan gives the answer, which is also a path of practice in Buddhism.

To realize.

Go to the human world to understand the joys and sorrows of the people, the hardships of life, and the destruction of human nature by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

Only in this way could Jiang Xinghuo make up his mind to overthrow Neo-Confucianism and open up a road for eternity.

Of course, this is just Daoyan's current thinking.

——————

Talk back to the tree.

Jiang Xinghuo continued to write on the wet ground with his hand.

①Organizational preparation, whether to establish an independent township-level tax agency? Can.

②Personnel preparation, need to meet the requirements of literacy, numeracy, integrity, foreigners? Can.

③Policy decomposition, new taxation agencies, personnel, and systems, ‘the Ming Dynasty’s tax pawns’?

④Policy experiment, find a testing ground.

⑤Policy propaganda, plan to run a newspaper.

⑥Policy promotion, currently unavailable.

Jiang Xinghuo asked: "In other words, if I can prove that people who are illiterate and illiterate can learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and learn to recognize 500 common words within three months, will the personnel preparation be completed? Then Going backwards, is it feasible to organize preparations?”

"Of course it is." Zhu Gaoxu said in a dull voice.

Xia Yuanji asked curiously: "What does the Ming Dynasty tax pawn mean?"

"Police means warning. "Zhou Li·Tianguan·Zaifu" contains: When the year is right, you should use the law to warn the officials."

"Tax soldiers are people who are used to warn officials not to be greedy for tax revenue."

"If I can prove the previous point, I can find some veterans to teach the same, train a group first, test it on a small scale somewhere, and then start to gradually expand the scope of promotion."

Xia Yuanji asked again: "Where is the newspaper?"

"Newspapers are similar to Di Bao, except that they are different in terms of layout and content, as well as the level of printing quality. They are mainly for the common people to read," Jiang Xinghuo said.

"For the common people to read? The common people are illiterate."

Xia Yuanji suddenly stopped speaking and looked at Jiang Xinghuo seriously: "Mr. Jiang, don't you really have a way to teach people how to read quickly?"

"Of course there is." Jiang Xinghuo said with a smile.

"What method?" Xia Yuanji asked curiously.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the mysterious Mr. Qiu and said calmly.

"I won't tell you yet."

Xia Yuanji almost couldn't breathe.

"Go on."

Jiang Xinghuo didn't take it seriously at all, and continued: "Now that we have tax guards, we can build tax collection agencies. Before, you thought that the biggest problem with building an independent township-level tax collection agency is that it costs money and takes up staff. In fact, it is not the case. .”

"First, you can just treat the tax soldiers as a few independent guards. It's not like Ming Dynasty can't afford to support a few extra guards."

"Secondly, the reason for spending money is that I am afraid that the money to support people is not as good as the extra money collected because of the new tax collection agency."

"But if you think about it from another angle, in fact, the role of the tax pawn is not just to collect taxes."

"But the reason is that the imperial power is sent to the countryside!"

Xia Yuanji was shocked, but he still managed to ask: "There are only a few tax collectors in each township. Does this mean that the imperial power has been sent to the countryside?"

"No, the real meaning of the imperial power going to the countryside is not that the emperor's people are permanently stationed there, but that the emperor's will can be conveyed to the people in the countryside. Otherwise, the countryside will be dominated by local emperors!"

"With tax collectors stationed permanently or rotating for several years, and these tax collectors are literate and literate, the government's decrees can easily be conveyed to the people through their mouths."

"Don't underestimate this. Many people spend their entire lives like larvae with no contact with the outside world, living in an 'information cocoon' built by region and clan."

"And the tax pawn is the knife that breaks this 'information cocoon'!"

"From now on, the voices from the outside world from the imperial court can be transmitted to the ears of every ordinary person!"

——————

Tax pawn!

Information cocoon room!

Imperial power goes to the countryside!

The two ministers understood almost immediately why people should be educated in numeracy and literacy.

The purpose is not only to collect taxes itself, but to send imperial power to the countryside!

As mentioned before, facing the absolute force of the imperial court, the clan gentry in the local villages actually had no ability to resist.

Because times have changed a long time ago. With the evolution of history, from the Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, the local armed forces that were strong enough to protect themselves began to disappear without a trace after the Song Dynasty.

Well, so to speak, the Iron-Blooded Song Dynasty is still good at striking hard internally to ensure the stability of the country.

In fact, judging from the practice of "our Qing Dynasty", the Jiangnan area did not have the ability to resist when faced with the Eight Banners iron and heavy mounted infantry.

So why can local clan gentry control the local area?

The two ministers were not easy to describe before. They always thought about clan lineage, blood relationship, authority, culture, and customs.

Thinking about it now, Jiang Xinghuo really made the point.

——Information cocoon room.

Yes, just like why ancient Chinese farmers were illiterate, because they didn't need to be literate.

So why can’t the imperial power go to the countryside? Because they can't hear the emperor's voice.

They are surrounded in a huge information cocoon formed by patriarchal blood ties and other factors.

From birth to death, this is true in every life.

As for outsiders, if they use normal channels, they cannot enter the countryside where clan influence is deeply entangled.

In fact, the two ministers clearly realized this.

Tax pawns are indeed the best entry point.

Because you have to pay taxes to the emperor.

The emperor didn't care much whether he was doing evil in the local area or keeping his peace.

But if you don't pay taxes, the emperor's sword will not be used to you.

The emperor sends people to collect taxes, do you dare to stop them?

To make a tax pawn disappear without a trace?

It doesn't matter, Zhu Di will perform a trick for you soon, letting you see how the rest of your family tree disappears except for the cover page.

Then, once the tax collectors can be stationed in the countryside, and these tax collectors know common words, the emperor's orders and the court's decrees can be conveyed to the countryside as a matter of course.

In this way, the information cocoon will naturally collapse!

To put it bluntly, the information cocoon house built for farmers seems to be unbreakable, but just like a real insect cocoon, it can be broken when poked!

The key point is that emperors of all dynasties since the Western Han Dynasty felt that they did not have a handy sword (tax pawn), and the benefits would not be great (the cost of sending imperial power to the countryside).

Therefore, a tacit deal was reached, and the power of the village, including public security, trial, etc., was vested in the local clans.

You only need to pay taxes to the emperor. It doesn't matter if you are greedy in the middle, it is just a hardship for the people.

But Zhu Di was not happy.

It's not that Zhu Di is unwilling to suffer the people.

He still doesn't have the personal experience of someone like Jiang Xinghuo, who has been miserable for eight generations.

Zhu Di's knot lies in

——Then it’s all my fucking money!

——Furthermore, you are trying every possible way to smear me!

"Tax Soldier Guard, what a Tax Soldier Guard!"

Zhu Di looked at the two ministers with a smile.

“Isn’t this the solution to the imperial power going to the countryside?”

Jian Yi and Ru Ru were silent.

What else can be said?

The problem that they thought was impossible to solve not long ago has been solved by Jiang Xinghuo with practical solutions.

But Jian Yi was still a little unwilling to give up: "Your Majesty, I still find it a bit incredible what Jiang Xinghuo said about teaching prisoners how to read and write."

"I think so too." Zhu Di said instead, "How about I make a bet with the two ministers?"

"What are you betting on?" Dao Yan suddenly spoke up, fanning the flames.

"I haven't thought about it yet. Let's make a personal promise that won't involve state affairs in the future. You two count as two."

The emperor wanted to make a bet, so the two ministers naturally had nothing to say.

In particular, Jian Yi and Ru Ru are well aware of the difficulty of this matter.

It is really too difficult to pick a few prisoners who are illiterate and illiterate and teach them in two months.

——————

"So, the first part is temporarily solved?"

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly understood after hearing Jiang Xinghuo's question.

It turns out that this class seems to have only been completed for more than half of the time?

Just look back.

Jiang Xinghuo said that the last class was about currency, and this class is about taxation.

The first part of taxation is the essence of taxation. The essence of taxation is naturally a game. The game led to the game theory model of "Japanese pirates split the money", followed by a three-party game between the court, localities and gentry.

The three-party game between the court and the localities led to the central and local secondary tax system, which led to the ‘hukou progressive tax’ and ‘separation notary tax’.

The imperial court and the gentry introduced tax soldiers and guards.

So, what about part two?

Jiang Xinghuo said slowly: "Next, I want to talk about the significance of taxation to the country."

"Do you really think that, for the country, taxation is just about collecting money?"

Zhu Gaoxu and Xia Yuanji were a little stunned.

if not?

Besides collecting money, what other meaning does tax have?

Isn’t that true for the country?