"Your Majesty should be clear that I am not a person seeking fame and reputation!"
"Now that the country is richer, I happen to be in charge of the official department, and the people happen to be in the most need to be protected from being harmed by subordinate officials. I should get rid of this chronic disease, so that I can live up to Your Majesty's kindness in using me!"
Hai Rui answered Zhu Yijun's question.
Zhu Yijun hesitated and said nothing.
After a while, Zhu Yijun suddenly stood up.
"good!"
Then, Zhu Yijun praised him loudly, and then said to Hai Rui: "The Ming Dynasty has a minister, and all the people will be blessed!"
When Hai Rui heard what Zhu Yijun said, he raised his head and looked at Zhu Yijun, then he pushed the golden mountain, toppled the jade pillar, and bowed in front of Zhu Yijun:
"How dare I accept such generous praise from Your Majesty!"
"If it weren't for Your Majesty, I would still only have a reputation as a pedant, so how could I talk about helping the people?"
"The one who truly protects the world is Your Majesty!"
Zhu Yijun helped Hai Rui up: "Although I have the heart to care for the people, I must have a minister like you who cares for the people."
Hai Rui now had an excited look on his face, his white beard trembled slightly, and he raised his hands in agreement.
Shen Shixing and other officials in power also looked at Hai Rui with complicated expressions, unable to conceal their respect.
"Since you want to change the official system, you can't just have the power of the Ministry of Personnel to pass on edicts. Hai Rui, with a bachelor from Dongge, joins the cabinet to preside over the administrative affairs and also take charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel."
Zhu Yijun said something again at this time.
"According to the order!"
Shen Shixing replied at this time.
Hai Rui bowed his head again.
Zhu Yijun helped him up again.
As far as Hai Rui is concerned, he has gone the farthest among the people who have been elected to the cabinet.
Zhu Yijun's decision to let Hai Rui join the cabinet can be considered a break from the norm.
Hai Rui's desire to reform the system of subordinate officials may be related to the fact that he himself was a juren and felt that Jinshi monopolized official resources, so he had greater motivation to reform the system of subordinate officials and bring officials and officials together.
"This is a serious evil that Mr. Gangfeng must come to correct. Even though the servant is a Yuanfu, it is not enough to awe the scholars. I hope that the subordinate staff will no longer be the servants of the scholars!"
Because of this, Shen Shixing also spoke to Hai Rui after leaving the Forbidden City.
"Yes, Mr. Gangfeng is well-known throughout the world and is familiar with local officials. The reform of the official system will be an immediate success."
Wang Xijue also smiled and said something to Hai Rui.
"You guys praise me so much!"
Hai Rui replied.
Then, Shen Shixing added: "There is no need to call him Mr. Gangfeng from now on. Since we are both in the cabinet, we can also call him Mr. Gongge Lao."
Wang Xijue and others nodded: "That's right!"
Hai Rui surrendered again.
He understood what Shen Shixing meant, and continued to call Mr. Gangfeng more respectful on the surface, but it still meant rejection, while calling Mr. Ge meant true acceptance.
After returning the courtesy, Shen Shixing smiled at Hai Rui and said, "The elder is responsible for reforming the system of subordinate officials. However, once the system of subordinate officials is reformed, it is not without its drawbacks. The disadvantages are undoubtedly mainly in two aspects:
First, once all the officials are changed to officials, the salary expenditure will inevitably increase and the court expenditure will increase;
Second, scholars with a good reputation are bound to have grievances, and they will exclude those with official backgrounds, and even regard the court's appointment of officials below the county magistrate as an insult to themselves and breed dissatisfaction;
As for these two evils, our other cabinet ministers and ministers cannot sit idly by. We must first use the reform of the subordinate staff system and use the opportunity for subordinate staff to be more active to improve the tax policy and ensure an increase in tax revenue. Those who dare to take advantage of it and evade taxes will be severely punished. , although the status has been improved by changing from a clerk to an official, the responsibilities have also been increased;
Secondly, this year is the year of the rural examination. We should petition to further increase the number of Xiaolian and Shengyuan, as well as the number of Jinshi, and increase it significantly. In this way, starting from the reform of the official system this year, even if there are scholars who are dissatisfied, they will be dissatisfied because there are too many scholars. Since there are few official positions, one has to be willing to accept changing the former position of a clerk into the position of an official. "
All the cabinet ministers nodded and said: "That's right!"
Hai Rui also saluted Shen Shixing again, then returned to the Ministry of Personnel and informed the matter to Wang Zongmu, who was already the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Wang Yongji, who was already the right minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and told him that the emperor had agreed to his change. The system of subordinate officials was established, and he was allowed to join the cabinet, as well as the chief assistant Shen Shixing and other support matters.
The two of them hurriedly offered congratulations to Hai Rui.
Wang Yongji then said with an excited smile: "In that case, Brother Gangfeng will go ahead, I will try my best to follow, and strive to really push forward the reform of subordinate officials!"
“It must be implemented!”
"Although I was born as a Jinshi, I know very well that there are almost hereditary subordinates. Not only do those who came from Jinshi not go to the countryside to be close to the people directly, it is difficult for them to know that their affection is more important than their own. They are also often restricted by the subordinates. It’s better to be like a clay Bodhisattva and let the people below do what they do. It’s better to open up the upper and lower levels and let the new Jinshi start from the gap between the people and the people!”
Wang Zongmu, who had made great contributions in the reforms such as the Qing Dynasty, was one of the few civil servants who praised Wang Anshi highly. Therefore, he supported Hai Rui's drastic changes in the official system. At this time, he also stood up to express his views.
After hearing this, Hai Rui stood up and handed over to the two of them: "Then we will work together to establish new officials in this dynasty!"
Wang Zongmu and Wang Yongji also handed over their hands: "You should do your best!"
Soon, Hai Rui formally wrote the second official question book, asking for the establishment of an official examination system in the Ming Dynasty. The official selection system should be improved first. In the future, there will no longer be officials. All existing official positions will be changed to official positions, and all will be set from nine to nine. Rank, but the nine-rank officials are divided into upper and lower ranks. The original nine-rank official was changed from the nine-rank official to the nine-rank lower official. All the existing subordinate officials were changed to officials. In the future, they will all pass the examination according to the examination method. New local officials need to be from the inner rank to the upper rank. For the examination, there is a two-level examination system for the Ministry of Personnel and the Chief Secretary of each locality. The officials selected in the Ministry of Personnel examination are all awarded to officials in the capital, and the officials selected by the Chief Secretary are all awarded to officials in the local area. Only scholars with academic titles above the rank of student officer are eligible. Take such exams to become an official.
Establishing an official examination system was an idea that Zhu Yijun had mentioned a long time ago. Now Hai Rui also proposed his final plan based on the idea that Zhu Yijun had mentioned, rather than just thinking it up on the head.
The reason why there are two levels of examinations, namely the central official selection examination hosted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the local official selection examination hosted by the Chief Secretary, is to reduce examination costs.
After all, the Ming Dynasty was too big and there were too many grassroots officials. If all of them had to come to the capital to take the exams, the back-and-forth and appointments would probably leave official positions at the local and county level vacant for at least a year.
Only allowing students to take the exam will naturally improve the quality of grassroots officials. After all, even if those above students are nothing, they are at least passable if they are willing to involve someone to protect their moral character.
In order to prevent the students from being unwilling to go to local officials in order to become Jinshi, Hai Rui also asked the emperor to allow them to participate in the imperial examination even if they were junior officials. Hereditary dissatisfaction.
Zhu Yijun naturally approved it.
…
Not long after, Gu Xiancheng learned about this from Gu Yuncheng, and was astonished: "What, the subordinate officials were changed to officials, the subordinate officials were abolished and were not allowed to take the imperial examination, and the students who passed the filial piety and integrity test and were local minor officials could also participate in the big competition?"
Gu Yuncheng nodded: "This is obviously to completely send the monarchy to the countryside!"
Gu Xiancheng asked: "Who changed it? Which Jinshi could not stand up to him so much that he gave up his qualifications as a Jinshi in the world to share your worries?!"
"Haigang Peak!"
(End of chapter)
