After several disciples left, Gao Gong did not leave, and asked Gao Jingshi to stay. Gao Jingshi knew that the third uncle must have something to say to him, so he was not surprised.
Sure enough, Gao Gong touched his famous beard and said: "Pragmatically, the grudge between Xu Jie and me, in the final analysis, is not a difference in life, but a disagreement in political opinions. You should know this .”
"My nephew knows." Gao Pragmatic nodded, but then said: "The reason why my nephew does not want the third uncle to fall to Xu at this time is mainly because of the third uncle's reputation."
Gao Gong said calmly: "Are you afraid that I will make everyone in the government panic?"
"It may not be that people are panicking, but there are definitely many people who are dissatisfied." Gao Pragmatic sighed in a way that was inappropriate for his age: "The third uncle is unparalleled in the holy family at the moment, and he is indeed not afraid of people's words, but after all, Xu Jie has been in power for many years , no matter in the center or in the locality, there are countless disciples and old officials. No matter what you do, Third Uncle, you will not be able to depose them all. It is easy to defeat Xu Jie today, but how to deal with the countless disciples of the Xu family? These people are all hidden dangers. Once in the court, If the situation changes slightly, they will definitely jump out to counterattack."
Gao Gong raised his eyebrows: "Because they are worried about counterattack and misfortune, they are allowed to follow the example of Xu Jie who was lazy and lazy in politics. They only focus on being an official and a high official? Then what should the assistant ministers do in the cabinet? How can they make a fool of themselves? Wouldn’t a Bodhisattva be better?”
Hearing this, Gao Jieshi shook his head and said, "Not defeating Xu Jie does not mean that he does not oppose Xu Jie's actions."
"What's the use of opposing in your heart?" Gao Gong also shook his head: "If you want to refresh yourself, there are some things you must do."
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and replied: "Of course, a gentleman should do something, but my nephew believes that the so-called right name can only be followed by words. Since the third uncle is opposed to Xu Jie's way of governing, it is best to start with the way of governing. There is no need to care too much about Xu Jie."
Gao Gong frowned and said: "Just now you said that Xu Jie's disciples and former officials are all over the world, and now you are saying that you should start with the way of managing politics. Isn't it a contradiction? Since his disciples and former officials are all over the world, I will catch a few people who are lazy and lazy in government. , how many can I catch? But if I directly kill Xu Jie, how can those people not be afraid? "
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "Otherwise. Of course they will be afraid, but they are afraid in the wrong place. Third uncle, right now Hai Gong is arguing with Xu Jie over the Xu family's property embezzlement case. In the final analysis, this case is a corruption case. It may not even lead to corruption, it can only be said to be plundering. Even if San Bo used this to defeat Xu Jie, it would only play a deterrent role in the purge of officials, and it would not have much significance in how officials should face their responsibilities correctly. Even because of the quarrel between you and Xu Jie back then, officials at home and abroad might just regard it as an official feud between you and Xu Jie, which not only does not help the overall situation, but also damages your prestige."
Gao Gong frowned and thought for a moment, then asked: "You mean, not only should I not kill Xu Jie, but I should also show a magnanimous attitude as much as possible?"
Gao pragmatic nodded: "Yes."
"Then it doesn't help the overall situation?" Gao Gong asked rhetorically.
"So this is not all that Third Uncle has to do." Gao pragmatically said: "In my nephew's opinion, the problem of hundreds of officials being overstaffed cannot be solved by defeating one person. The most important thing is to form a new evaluation system. system."
Gao Gong's eyes flashed: "What kind of system?"
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and said: "My nephew has not thought about it in detail yet, but he has two principles."
"Tell me about it." Gao Gong said without hesitation.
“First, we must quantify officials’ performance.”
Gao Gong frowned: "What is quantifying official performance?"
Gao pragmatically said: "Uncle San, this issue is very complicated. Let's take a county as an example first. What do you think?"
"Huh?" Gao Gong waved his hand: "Please tell me and listen."
Gao pragmatically said: "Let's assume that my nephew is the magistrate of a certain county, and you are still the Heavenly Official (the ancient name of the Minister of Personnel)."
"Yeah." Gao Gong suddenly showed a smile, and he didn't know why.
However, Gao Wuzhi had just entered the train of thought and was too lazy to think too much. He continued: "When I am the county magistrate, the taxes I should pay every year are basically constant according to past practice. But if we carry out quantitative assessment of official performance, So if the annual tax I paid before was one thousand taels of silver, the actual tax I paid was also one thousand taels. This performance..."
Gao Gong said: "If you don't care about the other things, just in terms of full tax payment, the evaluation is excellent."
"That won't work." Gao Pragmatic shook his head: "If there is no increase in the tax amount, this evaluation can only be regarded as barely qualified, that is, 'fair', and it should not even be 'good'."
Gao Gong's expression changed: "You want to use the increase in tax amount to measure the performance of officials? That won't work. It will definitely lead to the local officials below forcibly apportioning and imposing additional taxes. In this process, there will probably be officials in charge. , officials use their hands to pluck the feathers of wild geese, and the result can only be to cause public dissatisfaction and even provoke civil uprising!"
"Third uncle, don't be impatient. My nephew has something else to say, but we'd better explain the tax amount clearly first, and then talk about other things soon." Gao Pragmatic looked calm and said calmly: "What the third uncle just mentioned is the increase. The word "quantity" is very good, but for this increment, we don't need a fixed amount, we need to form a percentage to measure and calculate."
"What is percentage?" Gao Gong frowned slightly.
Gao Pragmatic explained: "For example, last year I paid one thousand taels of tax, and this year I paid one thousand one hundred taels. This increment is a 10% increase in the tax paid. If I paid one thousand taels of tax last year, I will pay one thousand and fifty taels of tax this year." , then the tax paid has increased by 5%, and so on. We still calculate based on the 10% increase. This year I paid 1,100 taels of tax. If I want to maintain this increase next year, then I will have to The tax is one thousand two hundred and one tael. If the same happens the year after next, then the tax will be one thousand three hundred and thirty one tael."
Although Gao Gong is a master of practical science, due to the academic limitations of this era, it is obvious that he is not very good at mathematics. He was stunned for a moment: "How is this calculated?"
"Uh... this is a long story, but the calculation is definitely correct. Why don't we talk about the specific calculation method when we have time next time?" After Gao pragmatically finished speaking, regardless of Gao Gong's reaction, he just followed His own train of thought continued: "According to Third Uncle, under normal circumstances, this is equivalent to increasing taxes year after year. If things go on like this, it will definitely lead to turmoil?"
"The number of fields is fixed. If you increase the tax year after year, something will happen."
"Okay, then let's add another evaluation indicator: maintaining stability." Gao pragmatically said: "The so-called stability maintenance, as the name suggests, means that I, the county magistrate, must be able to maintain the stability of public security in this county..."
Gao Gong shook his head and said: "Unless you use the army to suppress it, the people will be taxed year after year, and to the point where they have to exchange their sons for food, sooner or later something will happen? Not to mention how many people will suffer, let's just say this Isn’t it also an expense to suppress the army’s military salary? If it’s not done well, the little money you receive from the increase in taxes is not enough to cover the military salary expenditure!”
Gao pragmatic smiled and said: "Look, what if the expenditure on the use of the military is also included in the stability maintenance indicator? In other words, how much military salary is spent must be deducted from his tax payment amount. Doesn't this require me as a county? Can you find a way to open source it?"
"That's fine, but...how to increase the revenue?" Gao Gong thought about it: "No matter what name you use for this tax, won't it still be paid by the common people in the end?"
Gao Pragmatic smiled even more happily: "So, as a county magistrate, I not only have to find ways to ensure the annual increase in tax payment, but also maintain stability, so I have to find ways to make the people under my rule earn more money. Otherwise, where can I collect more taxes?"
