It turned out that Jiang Dejing had long hated those officials in the court who did not act. He knew that the reason for the instability in the world was caused by those officials who were lying on their backs.
If we want to stabilize the world, we must reform the official system.
It's a pity that Chongzhen was indecisive and he lacked support, so he only had the heart to serve the country.
In the past few days, he had seen that Zhu Yuanzhang was far-sighted and decisive, and he was the wise king in his heart, so he went out of his way, hoping to attract Zhu Yuanzhang's attention.
I got this opportunity today and immediately agreed without hesitation.
Zhu Yuanzhang was also overjoyed when he saw this. He got off his horse and helped him up, and asked with a smile: "Qing Jiang, I wonder how you plan to rectify the administration after taking office?"
Jiang Dejing heard this and knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was testing him.
However, he had been thinking about it all these years, and he already had a plan in mind. After thinking for a while, he said: "In my humble opinion, the current panic and rebellions in the world are really caused by the unclear governance of the officials. However, the governance of the officials has been in chaos for a long time. There can be no sudden changes.”
He knew that these words were too harsh, so he glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang secretly.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, he continued: "Looking at the current chaos, rebellions, refugees, plagues and other things seem to be complicated and insignificant, but in fact they are all caused by local officials' perfunctory response and failure to care for the people."
"Therefore, I feel that the most urgent task is to select a group of enterprising people to serve as local officials, strictly implement His Majesty's decree, allow the refugees to settle down, and resume production."
"Once the hungry people have food, their minds will be at peace, and they will not follow the rebellion. In this case, the rebels will be alone, and there is nothing to fear."
"If the war subsides, the refugees return home, and the population flow decreases, the impact of the plague will also be weakened, and peace in the world can be expected..."
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Jiang Desjing only talked about local governance and not about court policies, so he knew that he was avoiding Chongzhen's previous mistakes.
Moreover, the things he said about governance seemed to make sense, but they were talked in general terms without any practical plan, so he asked again: "Qing Jiang, can you be more specific? For example, now the people are either rebelling or taking refuge in the mountains. You How to resolve this dilemma?”
Jiang Dejing said: "The people's rebellion is just because they have nothing to eat. As long as the sweet potatoes and other products from Fujian are introduced to the north, when the sweet potatoes mature in half a year, the famine problem will be solved. By then, some people who were forced to rebel will be able to return to their fields."
"As for the food problem in the past six months, Your Majesty can order food to be transported from the south, which should be able to temporarily relieve the urgent need. Moreover, I have sent people to urge Song Yingxing to come to Beijing. When he arrives, with his ability, he should be able to increase the amount of sweet potatoes, Yields of crops such as rice.”
"As for the people who have taken refuge in the mountains, my intention is to send people to pacify them and lure them down the mountains to cultivate with fertile fields as bait."
"Once they come down from the mountain, local officials can take the opportunity to reorganize their household registration, arrange production, and set up grievance drums in county offices and prosperous areas to prevent officials from bullying the people."
"For the people who are unwilling to go down the mountain, I feel that they should not be forced, so as not to force their good people to steal and cause Yunyang... You can give them rice seeds and other things to encourage them to cultivate, and when the time is right, they can be persuaded to go down the mountain, or You can settle down locally or re-register your household registration..."
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Jiang Dejing hurriedly changed the topic when he talked about the Yunyang Rebellion to save him face, because this was a disgraceful history of the Ming Dynasty.
It turns out that as early as the end of the Yuan Dynasty, due to the large mountains in the Yunyang area, many people fled to the mountains to avoid taxes, and some even directly occupied the mountains and became kings, resisting the officers and soldiers.
In the process of pacifying the world, Zhu Yuanzhang also asked General Deng Yu to encircle and suppress all the people, and sent troops to garrison them to prevent the people from entering.
However, during the Xuande period, a large number of fleeing people still gathered near Yunyang.
Due to improper handling by the court, peasant uprisings led by Shi Long, Li Yuan and others broke out in the Zhengtong and Chenghua years.
Although they were all put down in the end, there were still many bodies and rivers of blood.
In particular, the "Pingjingxiang Monument" that symbolizes Xiang Zhong's achievements is called the "Tears Falling Monument" by the people.
The most ironic thing is that although the imperial court killed a large number of refugees, it not only failed to prevent the refugees from entering Yunyang and other places, but in fact worsened the situation.
It was not until Jijiu Zhou Hongmo learned from the Eastern Jin Dynasty's method of setting up counties and counties that the refugees close to the counties were attached, and the refugees far away from the counties established states and counties, relaxed the corvee, and reorganized the household registration, the matter was temporarily solved.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had not experienced what happened next, he also learned about it from Chongzhen's memory.
Seeing Jiang Dejing adopt Zhou Hongmo's method at this moment shows that he indeed has a plan that can be implemented, and he is quite approving of it.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that Jiang Dejing's plan seemed reasonable, but there was another biggest and most important problem, which was the human problem.
If there is no reliable person to implement it, everything will be a mirror image and out of reach.
So after Jiang Dejing finished speaking, he gave a few words of approval, and then said: "Jiang Qing, your plans are generally feasible, but we have another question, where are you going to find those enterprising people?"
Jiang Dejing saw Zhu Yuanzhang grasping the key to the problem immediately, and said with some embarrassment: "My original intention was to select talents from the imperial examination, but now that there is war in the north, the imperial examination cannot be carried out at all."
"In addition, time is tight and I can't wait for the imperial examination. Therefore, I am also worried about this. Please give your Majesty's instructions!"
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a while and said: "If talents are selected from the Imperial College, what does Jiang Qing think?"
When Jiang Dejing heard this, he shook his head repeatedly and said: "If it was the Imperial Academy during the reign of Taizu, I think it's okay."
"But most of the current Imperial College officials are the children of officials. They are neither familiar with common people's affairs nor have any ambition to make progress. Once they become officials, they will definitely harm the people. You must not do that!"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "Jiang Qing, you are just making generalizations. You see, Shen Qing is a student of the Imperial Academy, and his talents and learning are very good!"
Jiang Dejing glanced at Shen Zhanran with some embarrassment and said: "Master Shen's talents and learning are good, but they are rare in the Imperial College. They are rare and hard to come by, so I still don't agree with the use of imperial students."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he looked at Shen Zhanran and said, "Shen Qing, do you think what Jiang Qing said is right?"
Shen Zhanran smiled, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, what Mr. Jiang said is generally correct. However, there are some people in the Imperial College who are both talented and knowledgeable. However, they are not famous because they have no opportunity to show their talents."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "That's right. There is no genius in this world. It's just hidden in a cone and not revealed."
"Qing Jiang, according to our wishes, you might as well set some questions for local officials and go to the Imperial High School to test them. If there are some useful ones, let them practice with the officials for a few days. If they are useful, then appoint them to official positions."
"Firstly, it can temporarily relieve urgent needs, and secondly, it can motivate those students. If it cannot be reused, then we will find a way."
Jiang Dejing thought for a while and realized that he had no other choice, so he agreed to Zhu Yuanzhang's proposal.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked him about the assessment again. Seeing that Jiang Dejing answered fluently, his original worries were completely relieved.
It turned out that Zhu Yuanzhang had previously intended to make Jiang Dejing the Minister of Household Affairs because of his upright nature, so he delayed granting him the position.
Unexpectedly, today's unintentional act made him discover Jiang Dejing's talent in governance, and he was very happy, and a smile appeared on his originally gloomy face.
