Zhu Jingyuan was really a little surprised when he heard what his son said.
The system that allows officials to step down on a regular basis needs to be designed to form two bureaucratic groups that target each other, a bit like the multi-party system in the previous life of the West.
Multiparty system can indeed curb corruption in the bureaucracy to some extent.
But like all institutions, once parts of the institution itself become corrupt, the methods to curb corruption become mere formalities.
For example, the two political parties in the United States have formed a tacit understanding of taking turns to make money crazily when they come to power, and not to reveal each other's past after they step down.
Unless someone affects the interests of the entire ruling group, they may be killed by a psychotic gunman.
As long as others make profits within the rules, they will be fine.
But it just looks a bit similar.
Even if the Ming Dynasty really wanted to establish a bureaucratic group rotation system, it would essentially be a completely different system.
The basis of the Thai and Western imperial courts is the multi-party system and the electoral system.
Officials in charge of yamen at all levels from top to bottom are usually directly elected through regular elections.
Then these elected officials in charge directly appoint people within their own circles to serve as officials in various departments.
It was impossible for the Ming court to implement such a system.
At the same time, the promotion and appointment of officials in the Ming Dynasty were all handled by the Ministry of Personnel and subordinate yamen, and they all had to pass assessment and screening.
It is impossible to allow the chief officer to select people by themselves, and even the secretary cannot be allowed to select them by themselves.
How to do it specifically? There are too many issues that need to be considered.
There are also many problems with officials working in other places.
Letting local people serve as local officials is not only a matter of accent, but also a cost issue.
Outsiders simply don’t understand the specific local situation.
If a certain degree of controllable corruption can significantly improve administrative efficiency, then this kind of corruption is tolerable.
The use of locals as grassroots officials is based on this logic.
So Zhu Jingyuan asked directly:
“Do you have mature ideas and plans for this rotation system in your bureaucracy?
“How do you create two bureaucracies that are independent or even hostile to each other? What are the specific conditions to distinguish the systems?
“How to prevent the two systems from connecting with each other and forming a tacit understanding?
“During the rotation between the two systems, how will the officials who step down be placed? What treatment will they receive?
“How do you conduct a complete and thorough verification of them?
"When the two systems rotate, it will inevitably lead to chaos in the yamen affairs. How to prevent and respond to it?
“How will we select officials in the future?
“The key is, have you considered the cost of having two bureaucracies?
"There is also the issue of officials working in different places. Have you ever considered how much the efficiency of grassroots administration will be reduced as a result?"
Facing these questions, Judy Lan answered honestly:
"Erchen actually only has relatively general ideas at the moment, and there is no specific and detailed plan that can be implemented yet.
“To be specific, the bureaucrats in each yamen were divided into two groups: ‘chao’ and ‘unofficial’.
"The 'chao' person is in power in the government, holds office normally and handles government affairs.
"The 'wild' people are being cleaned up in the wild, undergoing review and assessment, receiving appointment and supervisory education, and having their positions pre-arranged based on their performance and abilities.
“Supervise the actions of the ruling system, compile official and private data, and report the actual situation to His Majesty and the people.
“Once every three years, His Majesty, the people, and the opposition system jointly evaluate the overall governance level of the ruling system in the past three years.
“Those who are overall outstanding can continue to be in power for three years, and can be in power twice in a row for a total of nine years at most.
“After serving in government twice in a row, you must step down from the opposition, let the original opposition group come to power, and calculate the performance of the previous system in government.
“Only when the opposition vigorously exposes the mistakes and corruption of the ruling party can they have a chance to make the ruling party step down early.
“After taking office, we must also vigorously investigate the other party’s mistakes and corruption.
“These two groups should not need to be specifically divided, they will form naturally with a little guidance.
“Those in the opposition attack the allies of the North, and those in the North may also be enemies.
“After everyone leaves office, if they can pass the verification, they can choose to withdraw from the bureaucracy and no longer participate in the government in the future.
“If you choose to stay in the bureaucracy, you should be able to continue to receive a certain salary.
“This approach may double the actual number of bureaucrats and will certainly increase the financial burden on the court.
“When switching between the two systems, there will also be a short period of confusion and additional resource consumption.
“So we have to consider whether this increase in financial burden and resource consumption can be covered by the anti-corruption benefits.
“Also consider whether our governing bodies can ensure a relatively fair implementation of the system.
“Many policies in history were not bad, but the conditions for implementation were not met at the time, or the benefits did not cover the costs, and in the end the gains outweighed the losses.
“So we need enough professionals to make a more detailed assessment before we can decide whether to implement it.
“And how it will be implemented and to what extent and level.
“It still has to be at a certain level of productivity before it can be truly implemented.
“Or we need to design detailed systems to reduce the system consumption of non-governing personnel as much as possible.
"As for the officials, I actually have another idea, which should be able to slightly reduce the negative effects of local officials.
“In the richest local areas, we mobilize the new generation of people with money and leisure to serve as grassroots officials or civilian supervisors.
“In order to encourage them to participate, grassroots knighthoods can be given.
"If you have worked in your hometown yamen for five years and received an excellent comprehensive evaluation, you can receive official status.
“After working for ten years, if the overall evaluation is still excellent, you can get the title of lifelong country scholar.
“After working for fifteen years, if the comprehensive evaluation is still excellent, you can get the title of lifelong country squire.
“The specific evaluation method can consider the original assessment standards of the yamen, plus the direct evaluation of the people they have received.
“The entire process and results must be made public on the Yamen Internet.
“These people no longer have direct business operations, nor are they short of money, and now they are beginning to pursue a sense of honor.
“The official status and title of the imperial court should be attractive to them.
"It's just that I'm not sure yet whether these ideas are reasonable. The key is the cost and feasibility, and whether they can achieve the desired results."
Zhu Jingyuan felt slightly relieved when he heard that his son did not take care of everything and directly talked about things that he was not sure about himself:
"For things that are uncertain, you can do a partial pilot first and observe the actual situation before deciding whether to promote it."
Judy Lan agreed directly without any objection:
"My son understands."
Zhu Jingyuan nodded slightly, and then continued to ask other questions:
"What should be done if the goods produced by the four major industrial groups are piled up in large areas and cannot be sold?"
What Zhu Jingyuan is actually talking about is overproduction, which means that the total production of goods in society greatly exceeds the demand for people with the ability to pay, which is a typical feature of economic crises.
However, the economic structure of the Ming Dynasty was special, and there was no such thing as overproduction.
After hearing this, Judy Lan said with some uncertainty:
"The goods produced...are piled up on a large scale?
“That may be because workers are producing more goods than customers can purchase with their current income.
“Essentially, productivity should have increased, but people’s income and purchasing power have not increased simultaneously.
“If this situation continues to accumulate, an economic crisis may occur.
“So we can’t cut production at this time.
“Because reducing production means reducing bonuses and even lowering workers’ wages.
“The income of a large number of workers has been reduced, and the purchasing power of the market will be further reduced, making it even harder to sell things.
“It ends up being a vicious cycle.
“At this time, the court can come forward to provide emergency funds to the workers.
“But don’t overdo it. Sending a large amount directly may not be effective, and sending too much may also lead to currency devaluation.
“Then raise the minimum wage.
“Let the largest group in society have a sustained and steady increase in basic income.
“However, direct payment of money and raising wages will increase the amount of money in the market, which may lead to inflation and a general rise in prices.
“People may feel that the money in their hands is worthless because of this.
“Therefore, the four major industrial groups must simultaneously start large-scale price reduction promotions.
“This, in turn, forces the currency to appreciate relative to commodity prices.
“The specific amount of payment, how much the minimum wage should be increased, and the scale and discounts of price reduction promotions should all be professionally calculated.
“Let the amount of money on the market increase dramatically, and the total amount of goods supplied increases simultaneously.
“Ultimately, productivity and purchasing power growth will be balanced.
“Ordinary people will feel that they have more money on their hands, and things on the market will become cheaper.
“And that should be a direct result of increased productivity.
"If you want to take the opportunity to clean up private manufacturers, you can directly use larger price reduction promotions."
The four major industrial groups were originally oligopolistic manufacturers, but due to the restrictions and requirements of the imperial court, a limited competition mechanism was formed.
If the imperial court requires them to cooperate and at the same time conduct large-scale price reductions and promotions, it will be dumping by the monopoly manufacturers.
In theory, it may lead to currency appreciation, capital flight, and deflation.
But everyone in this world has nowhere to escape. They can only bear the impact of this dumping, or simply withdraw from the market.
Deflation may not have an obvious physical manifestation.
Because there is no other currency to compare with.
From the perspective of the existing ordinary consumer groups, the amount of money they have has not changed, but the items on the market have become cheaper.
The end result is that prices fall, the currency appreciates relative to prices, and the purchasing power of currency increases.
Forcibly smoothing the gap between productivity and purchasing power.
The technical level is insufficient, so manufacturers with higher production costs, or manufacturers that do not have sufficient cash reserves and rely too much on borrowing, may go bankrupt during this market structural adjustment process.
After Zhu Jingyuan listened, he did not respond to Zhu Jinglan about what he should do, but returned to his desk.
Open the electronic edict system on the computer and personally draw up an appointment edict.
After using the electronic signature in the computer, I printed it out and signed it manually again, and finally handed it to Judy Lan directly on the spot.
When Zhudi Lan took it with both hands, he subconsciously thought it was the appointment letter from the Minister of Personnel.
After taking a quick look, he realized that it was an order to confer him the title of County King.
Judy Lan was inexplicably relieved:
"Thank you, Father..."
What Zhui Lan wants most is to be awarded a title, which means he can get more salary every year in the future.
The county prince gets 50,000 silver notes every year, and the prince gets 100,000 silver notes.
Zhu Zhulan is twenty-four years old this year, and he can get the title of county king relatively quickly. Many princes can't get it until they are thirty years old.
The main reason is that most princes graduate around the age of eighteen, and local training takes at least twelve years to complete.
By the time they return to Beijing, they are usually around thirty years old.
As for the title of prince, we have to wait.
You have to serve in various ministries of the central court for several years and complete the final stage of practical training before you have the opportunity to get it directly.
If you are unqualified for your work in various departments of the imperial court, you will only be the king of the county for the rest of your life.
Judy Lan was very happy and thanked her from the bottom of her heart:
"My son, Di Lan, thanks my father for his kindness."
Zhu Jingyuan smiled and waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need to be polite:
"This is just a printed copy of the appointment letter. Someone will make the formal canonization edict and the seal of the robe and send it to your home.
"There will be a unified formal canonization ceremony later...
"Let's not talk about this anymore. It's not too early now. Come with me to your mother's place for dinner..."
Zhudi Lan also missed his mother, so of course he couldn't refuse, so he followed Zhu Jingyuan to Wang Ya's palace.
Judy Lan went to visit her mother and then had dinner with her parents. During the dinner, the family talked about more personal matters.
Judy Lan also shared some of her local experiences with her parents, choosing interesting or special ones.
In the afternoon, Zhu Jingyuan met with Qianqing Palace to do business, leaving Zhu Jinglan in Wang Ya Palace to continue talking to his mother.
Starting from the next morning, Zhu Jingyuan successively recruited the princes who had completed their training to enter the palace for talks.
In the same year that Zhu Di Lan left Beijing, six princes graduated.
But there were a total of sixteen princes recalled to Beijing this year.
Because Zhudi Lan actually ended the local training ahead of schedule, two years less than the normal training.
In addition, there are some princes who failed the assessment during the practical training and were kept at the same level for an extra year.
In addition, this year is the special year of the Grand Duke's 30th year. Zhu Jingyuan is almost the prince who has been out of the capital for three consecutive years and has been recalled to the capital together.
Zhu Jingyuan talked one by one, asking similar questions that he had discussed with Zhudi Lan, or other completely different questions.
The princes have all been trained locally for more than ten years and have accumulated enough experience.
Although he is still nervous and cautious when facing his father now, he is no longer as nervous as he was when he was a child.
They were all quite experienced and smooth in answering questions, and they were able to express their thoughts and ideas normally.
The content of the answers itself was pretty good, some were radical and generous, some were cautious and conservative, and some were thoughtful.
However, in Zhu Jingyuan's view, other children are not as calm as Zhu Jingyuan.
I always feel like they have reservations about themselves.
Based on their evaluation of their local political achievements and their performance in the on-site question and answer session, Zhu Jingyuan granted the title of five more princes and ten more princes.
For a prince who has completed local training, being granted the title of Duke does not mean that he will also be a Duke in the future.
After completing the practical training in various central ministries, they will basically be directly promoted to the title of county king, and after the age of forty, they will be unified to the title of prince.
But now that he is only a Duke, it also means that the emperor's father is not very satisfied with himself.
To put it bluntly, the competition for the throne of Ming Dynasty is to satisfy the father.
Therefore, the few princes who took over the throne knew that they had basically no chance of being crowned king.
The princes who won the title of county king still had expectations and pressure.
Awaiting formal appointment next year.
According to past traditions, the Minister of Civil Affairs is the crown prince.
The Zongren Mansion has completed the official documents, the attire and the seal, and it's almost the end of the year.
On December 21, the 30th year of the Grand Duke, Zhu Jingyuan rarely left Qianqing Palace and came to the main hall of Fengtian Palace.
He presided over the canonization and succession ceremonies of the princes, princes, princes, princes and princes.
After the title canonization and canonization ceremony, Zhu Jingyuan took out an additional imperial edict and asked the great uncle at the scene to read it.
The core content of the previous few formulaic remarks is only one sentence.
"The emperor's sixty-fourth son, Prince Di Lan, was appointed as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and Shaoqing of Dali Temple."
As soon as these words came out, the pupils of everyone present suddenly shrank and shrank.
Then everyone else looked at Judy Lan with extremely complicated emotions and equally complicated eyes.
Judy Lan also had mixed feelings.
I really made myself the Minister of Civil Affairs. Did you really choose me?
But why do you still have a part-time job?
Obviously when you reach the prefect or above, you have no free time at all.
Dali Temple is the highest court of the Ming Dynasty. It is not under the jurisdiction of Jiuqing and various ministries, but directly belongs to the emperor.
The status of the Minister of Dali Temple is now equivalent to that of Jiuqing, and the number of Shaoqing is no longer one, but a variable number of several to a dozen.
But with such an important appointment, any questions must be put aside for later.
Judy Lan first bowed to express her gratitude:
"Thank you, father, for your consideration... I will do my best to do the work of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Dali Temple..."
Zhu Jingyuan nodded slightly and then announced the end of the ceremony.
Zhu Jingyuan chose the Minister of Civil Affairs. The ministers breathed a sigh of relief, and the other princes also gave up.
The atmosphere in this year of the Archduke's thirtieth year is also relatively stable.
After the New Year, Judy Lan reported to two yamen, and then ran around to learn and do things.
For Zhu Zhulan, the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel are not difficult, but there are many details and rules.
However, the details and rules are relatively fixed, and in principle, there should be no adjustments as much as possible, so it will be easy once you become familiar with them.
Dali Temple is completely the opposite.
As the Supreme Court of the Ming Dynasty, it actually handles not many affairs on a daily basis, and management affairs are not complicated.
But once it comes to specific cases, it is basically a big headache.
After the Renwu Dynasty, except for cases that were directly tried by Dali Temple at the special request and stipulations of the emperor, other cases in Dali Temple were appealed from below.
It is absolutely troublesome to go through the three levels of county, prefecture and province and still insist on appeal or the case cannot be heard clearly.
After half a year, Zhudi Lan was basically familiar with the rules of the Ministry of Personnel, and gradually adapted to the affairs of Dali Temple.
As a result, Zhu Jingyuan sent another request, or rather a reminder, to Judy Lan.
We can start to choose a suitable location to pilot the reform of the official system and the reform of the staff system that Zhu Zhulan himself proposed.
Zhu Dilan had no choice but to shift the work center towards the staff department.
After careful discussion with the staff of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he explained his more mature ideas.
Then, Shanghai Prefecture of Songjiang Prefecture and Shangyuan County of Yingtian Prefecture were selected to trial the dual-system rotation supervision system for officials in both the government and the public.
In addition, Huating County of Songjiang Prefecture, Qiantang County of Hangzhou Prefecture, and Chongming County of Nantong Prefecture were selected to trial the regular layoff and off-site appointment system for officials.
Jiangning County in Yingtian Prefecture and Wu County in Suzhou Prefecture were selected to trial the system of knighthood for senior private scholars who serve as local officials for a period of time.
For most parts of the Ming Dynasty and most ordinary people, the next two years were no obvious difference from the previous ones.
There was already a new prince and official minister, and the uneasiness of the court officials about the inheritance of the throne had subsided.
Most of the officials of the imperial court, scholars and ordinary people who paid attention to politics attracted the greatest attention from these three reforms.
The dual-system rotation system between the DPRK and the opposition gives all officials mixed joys and sorrows.
Fortunately, the dual-system rotation system means that the number of job vacancies has doubled, and everyone feels that they have a greater chance of becoming an official or being promoted.
The so-called opposition officials are just trial titles or false titles in the eyes of existing bureaucrats, but they are false titles with a maximum candidacy period.
At least three years, and at most nine years, as long as you can endure it, you can really become the corresponding official.
What is worrying is that this system is clearly designed to instigate officials to criticize each other, and officials in the opposition must do their best to find fault with officials in the upper court.
In order to change from a false title to a full official as soon as possible, they will definitely do anything, and the emperor allows it.
It is very uncomfortable for officials who are in power to undergo a comprehensive liquidation after leaving office.
The key to this system was promoted by the prince who was the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Many conservative officials wanted to object, but were hesitant in the face of this status and did not dare to write directly and publicly.
As for the reform of the official system, although most officials think it is inappropriate, there are also some whose family members are officials and do not want the court to do this.
However, the extent of this system's inadequacies is far lower than that of the dual system of rotation of officials between the North and the opposition.
At the same time, it was also promoted by the prince, the Minister of Civil Affairs.
It's even more unworthy of leaving a bad impression on Judy Lan just for this matter.
So for more than a year, although there was a lot of pressure and resentment within the court and bureaucracy, it was not released.
At the end of the 31st year of the Grand Duke, Zhu Dilan was promoted one level to become the tomb master.
The ministers and princes did not find anything unusual. For the prince as the heir, the work of the Minister of Civil Affairs and the work of Zhongzai were actually highly similar.
Ordinary ministers of the Ministry of Personnel may not necessarily attend the morning court, but Zhu Zhu Lan also had to attend the morning court even if he was not Jiuqing.
However, in the first month of the 33rd year of the Grand Duke's reign, Zhudi Lan was suddenly transferred to the position of eldest uncle and dean of the Criminal Court, and at the same time he was officially granted the title of prince.
At this time, the other princes and ministers were all confused. Did Zhu Jingyuan give up on Zhu Zhulan as the heir?
However, Zhu Jingyuan did not arrange for other princes to be ministers of the Ministry of Personnel, but replaced them with ordinary ministers.
All the princes' hearts were extremely tangled.
But no one knew what Dad was thinking, and no one dared to ask directly.
Some people's minds became active again and they began to work hard.
Ministers also began to write letters, explicitly or covertly opposing the rotational supervision system of officials between the government and the opposition.
Zhu Jingyuan ignored the hint.
Regarding the explicit direct question, are you involved in any corruption matters and are you worried about being fully supervised by your colleagues?
The emperor expressed his attitude in this way.
Although there is no explicit support, it is obviously not opposed to it. We want to see the effect.
Although Judy Lan was a little surprised and didn't understand what her father was going to do, she didn't panic.
Anyway, the title of prince has been obtained. If he is not allowed to become emperor, it will be equivalent to retiring at the age of thirty with a pension of 100,000 silver notes.
It really doesn’t matter if you don’t allow yourself to be the emperor.
Zhu Jingyuan just wanted to see the reaction of his son and ministers, but Zhu Jingyuan was quite satisfied with Zhu Jingyuan's state.
No matter what the reason is, the performance is indeed flattering and humiliating.
What I was doing was still done in an orderly manner, and I still adhered to the logic of finishing things as soon as possible and taking a rest.
Zhu Jingyuan started to move himself, to the place where his grandfather once lived.
(End of chapter)
