Zeng Ying was a military attache and had been serving in the Sichuan Army. Although he went to Nanjing to attend cram school, he had not paid attention to the new official system of the Ming Dynasty. So when he heard what Ruan Dacheng said, he didn't know whether it was right or not, so he had to use his eyes. Ask his old superior Ma Shiying for help.
Ma Shiying said: "You don't know something, Marquis Yan. Nowadays, the imperial court implements the integration of officials and local staff. The career of a civil servant usually starts from a ninth-grade state or county official. The ways to become an official include recommendation and imperial examination. The imperial examination is the main way. For those who take the imperial examination, there is the preliminary examination in the state capital and the re-examination in the ministry. If you pass both examinations, you will get an official license. If the re-examination is in the ministry, you will be assigned to the imperial yamen to be a small official as big as a sesame. If the re-examination is in the hospital (province), then you will be When serving as local officials, a few work in government offices directly under the province or prefecture, and most are sent to county offices or prefectural offices, starting from the lowest level. They are assessed once a year, promoted and demoted once every three years, and there are prefectures and prefectures behind them. The inspection censor of Zhili Prefecture is always looking for trouble...According to His Majesty's vision, in the future, the parents of a county (prefecture) will be promoted by the county's petty officials through various assessments. The county (prefecture) State) or above, unless there is a special purpose, they must serve outside.
Local administration is based on counties (prefectures), with prefectures (Zhili prefectures) supervising counties (prefectures), and provincial superintendents (Zhili prefectures). In this way, there are layers of supervision, level-level assessments, and promotion and demotion. The amount of dismissal is set to facilitate upward and downward flow, so that capable officials can be promoted and incompetent officials can be demoted and eliminated. At the same time, the imperial censor system was used to supervise integrity and corruption, and the Jinyi Guard Nanya was used to hunt down unofficial officials.
In other words, the official system of our Ming Dynasty is that it is easy to obtain an official position, difficult to be promoted, and even difficult to retain an official position..."
Ruan Dacheng compensated: "It would be easier if you can become a Jinshi of Taixue. After three years of study, you can directly enter the Hanlin Academy and serve as an academic officer.
In addition, those who were born in Jingxuetang can also serve as their counterparts in the bureaucracy. There are many charlatans in the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Punishment, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dali Temple, the Ministry of Household Affairs, etc. However, it is difficult for others to appoint academic officials and art officials, unless there is a special decree from the emperor. "
After nearly ten years of reform and adjustment, the Ming Dynasty's official system and imperial examination system had been changed beyond recognition by Emperor Zhu. The imperial examination system can even be said to exist in name only! Because the Taixue exam is extremely difficult, and after being admitted to Taixue, you have to study in Taixue for three or four years before you can be awarded an official position. However, the chances of being admitted to the Hanlin Academy are very slim. Most of them will be sent to serve as academic officers. Although they have high grades and salaries, it is difficult for them to be appointed. It cannot be compared with the original Jinshi origin.
As for those who came from "juren", that is, those who came from "two examinations of ministries and academies", although their prospects are wider, they all start from the lowest level of officials, which is actually the original official. Because there are a large number of officials, the door to becoming an official is relatively wide, but it is difficult to get promoted. There is also a terrible "reduction quota" staring at you. If you fail the assessment for three consecutive years, you will face demotion. Demotion or elimination - whether to be demoted or eliminated depends on the size of the official position. If a junior official cannot be demoted, then he will be eliminated directly!
Of course, this system of promotion, demotion, and elimination also has advantages and disadvantages for officials... After all, officials above cannot be demoted, and it is not easy for people below to be promoted!
Moreover, if officials cannot be eliminated, wouldn’t there be fewer opportunities for new people to join the official ranks every year?
In addition, those who have overcome difficulties cannot be eliminated through assessment, and will be given a guaranteed officer based on their merits. That is to say, if you really fail the exam, you can arrange a job to support yourself. Those with great merit will have a big guaranteed official; those with small merit will have a small guaranteed official.
In short, Emperor Zhu's court wanted to kick out unqualified officials as much as possible and promote officials who could do things well. Those who can rise to the rank of county magistrate from a large number of petty officials, and then stand out from a large number of county magistrates or county-level officials to become high-ranking officials in the state capital, most of them have a few brushes, and their conduct is passable... ...At least we can’t let the gang of censors who confiscate the house get a hold of it!
Ruan Dacheng said: "This system of examination, promotion, and elimination will not be implemented in the new land. At present, it is the four rivers, two lakes, Fujian and Guangdong, plus one Guangxi, and one Shandong. Did it.”
"What about other places?" Zeng Ying asked, "For example, what happened to the newly restored Henan?"
“Of course recommendation is the main one,” Ruan Dacheng said. “Exiled nobles, officials, and gentry from Henan recommend county officials. County officials (level) and below are recruited from exiled Henan scholars. If there are recommendations, There are also some who have passed the exam.
And the governor, governor, admiral and other frontier ministers have great power in personnel affairs... With one recommendation, the other two people have no objections, and the county magistrate has it!
As for the prefects and prefectures (Zhili prefectures), they were appointed by the imperial court. Governor Zeng has the right not to use it, but it will be invalidated after it expires! "
At the same time, Zhu Cihong was summoning Li Yan, the governor of Henan, Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Hebei, Li Jiantai, the governor of Shanxi, and Zhang Tongchang, the governor of Shaanxi, who were about to take office at Laoshan Palace.
Except for Zhang Juzheng's grandson Zhang Tongchang, who came to Shaanxi as a governor from Hubei Province, the other three governors were local officials - such an arrangement was not common at the state capital level, let alone at the governor level.
The reason why Zhu Cihong appointed Li Yan, Lu Zhenfei, and Li Jiantai as governors of the province was to let these three people take the lead in pulling together the bureaucratic teams in Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi.
Those who can serve as officials in these three occupied provinces are of course the "Returning Regiment"!
"Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi have been occupied for many years, and the Donglu have encircled and equalized land, so all the relationships in the original land are no longer clear, and I don't want to figure it out... Do you understand? ?”
Zhu Cixiang is still talking about the land issue!
After all, Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi are not Sichuan, the land of abundance. Emperor Zhu is prepared to suffer long-term losses!
However, the money of the Ming Dynasty cannot be "burned" in vain. The three provinces of Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi must be "burned" into territories that the Ming Dynasty court can firmly control.
To achieve this goal, there is only one key, which is to deal with the land conflicts... Due to years of turmoil and the Qing Dynasty's enclosure and equalization of land, land conflicts in these three provinces have actually been alleviated. If Ming Dynasty takes over now, we cannot let this conflict arise again in the short term.
Of course, land annexation is unstoppable in the long term—as long as there is market competition in agriculture, some will succeed and some will fail. There is no business where everyone can be successful...it just can't be done! Therefore, the only way to truly suppress mergers is to use strict policies to suppress commercial activities like Dashun.
In other words, it doesn’t make people rich!
But capitalism in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty has begun to run wild, and Emperor Zhu has no way to turn back...
What he can do now is to prevent the Qing Dynasty's land reform achievements from being lost immediately.
"I understand your majesty's painstaking efforts!" Li Yan is the one who understands Emperor Zhu's thoughts best, otherwise he would not have changed from a military advisor to a governor of Henan. "As long as I am in Henan for a day, I will not let the common people go to the fields." Lost land again.”
"But we can't let them get the land for free," Zhu Cixiang said. "The land that has been transferred cannot be registered as private land, it can only be public land, and it must be prohibited from circulation... As for the land occupied by the bannermen, it cannot be returned. It will be given to the original owner first by the Tuntian Division, who will use it to award rewards based on merit. Once the customs are completely pacified, they will all be rewarded and I will not leave an acre behind."
"Your Majesty," Li Jiantai asked with a frown, "What about the gentry who have lost their land and have no merit? Some people have land deeds issued by the court, and they have to acknowledge it!"
"We can refer to Hubei's method." Zhu Cixi paused, and then said, "Those who have land deeds, the court will make up for them, and those who don't will forget it. As for Hebei...it used to be Beizhili, and there were many honors. Expensive farms, road governors, these lands must be firmly controlled and await unified distribution by the imperial court. I still have to give them an explanation for all the distinguished nobles who follow the imperial court south. I will compensate them with 20 million acres. I can’t give you more.”
