Having said this, Chen Yuyi turned his head, looked at the moonlight outside the window, and stopped talking.
Zhou said: "I feel that Wang Kuan's habit of doing things is to give generous salaries and ask officials to do things well. You are a good official. As long as you are more attentive, why worry about this?"
Chen Yuyi said: "What I'm worried about is that Wang Kuan's things are different from others, which makes people feel unsure. According to Wang Kuan's words, officials must be selected in the government now. The word "selected" is not just mentioned casually. .”
Having said this, Chen Yuyi couldn't help but sigh again: "Moreover, the selection mentioned by Wang Kuan is different from the previous standards of the imperial court. How easy is it for us old officials to adapt?"
After a moment of silence, Chen Yuyi couldn't help but turned around and said to his wife: "Wang Zhuan said that in the future, officials and officials should be distinguished in the government. How many things are there in a yamen, and how many officials each have. In addition, there are For some temporary matters that require more manpower for the time being, they are either hired or hired. Needless to say, those who are hired or hired are doing things according to the officials' instructions. Even the officials and officials within their posts are very particular."
"What's so important?" Mrs. Zhou couldn't help but ask when she saw that her husband was very troubled today.
Chen Yuyi said: "All the things that officials do are within the regulations. Things that are not within the regulations are managed by officials. Generally speaking, officials and officials are distinguished in this way. Of course, the actual situation is diverse and it cannot be completely like this. , don’t worry about it.”
Zhou laughed and said, "What's so strange about this? Isn't that how it should be?"
Chen Yuyi shook his head repeatedly: "You don't know what's going on in the government. Is there anyone who is more familiar with the official affairs in the yamen than the public officials? Even the regulations must be built by the officials. If Wang Zhen wants to appoint officials in this way, the first thing is To rewrite the regulations, officials are required to be more familiar with the regulations than the officials. How many officials in the world can do this? There are many famous ministers in this dynasty, and I only heard that the prime minister of the Renzong Dynasty, Lu Wenjing, was proficient in official affairs. They are all used for their own purposes. Officials are often greedy for their own tranquility and do not devote their full attention to political affairs. As long as the important matters are not compromised, they will be entrusted to the public officials. This will not be the case in the future. Officials must be more familiar with regulations than public officials and handle political affairs more skillfully. "
Zhou said: "I think this is what officials should be like."
Chen Yuyi shook his head: "Officials are mostly scholar-bureaucrats. Apart from political affairs, what they want is peace and quiet. Every day they are busy with political affairs and work hard to form documents. How can they be decent! When the government uses scholar-bureaucrats as officials, in addition to using their talents, they also recruit the world's sages. The government is all about quietness and inaction, and the officials and the people have nothing to do. How can officials be exhausted every day? When the king observed this, he found it extremely unsightly!"
Seeing her husband's indignant look, Mrs. Zhou smiled and shook her head. It would be better to say that if your husband has this kind of temperament, you think other people also have this kind of temperament. Don’t most officials in the world think about getting promoted and making a fortune?
Seeing his wife's appearance, Chen Yuyi shook his head helplessly. Said: "That's not all. In the future, there will be many rules for being an official. This dynasty already has avoidance laws, but Wang Zhen stipulated them in more detail. Not only relatives and friends cannot be officials in the same yamen, but also if they are involved in official affairs, they must Avoid. All the favors of officials are cancelled. The children of officials want to be officials and go to school like others. All kinds of things are very annoying."
There was an avoidance method in the Song Dynasty. For example, the governor of a state cannot be within a few miles of his hometown. The county magistrate is in charge of the government, how far away from his hometown. Under the rule of state and county officials, relatives and friends are not allowed to own property, especially land. When Zeng Gongliang, one of the chief editors of "Wu Jing Zong Yao", was an official in Kuaiji, he took advantage of the bad times to buy private land. At that time, the governor of Yuezhou was Zeng Gong's father, Zeng Yizhan, who mediated and changed the person who bought the land to Zeng Gongliang's father, Zeng Hui. As a result, Zeng Hui's official career came to an end, and Zeng Gongliang was demoted to supervise the Huzhou liquor tax.
Wang Xiaolie's avoidance method was even stricter. It is strictly forbidden for fathers, sons, brothers, relatives and friends to serve as officials in the same yamen, and it is strictly forbidden for officials to have property under their governance. If the affairs are related to their relatives and friends, the officials must avoid it and let others handle it. Once an official is found to have violated the rules, he or she will be demoted or removed from the company. Not only that, if an official is found to have made false records, lied about his or her performance, or is responsible for protecting each other, he will be severely punished.
This is part of the Featured Officials section. The so-called selection does not only mean selecting talented and moral people to serve as officials, but also includes strict discipline. As for officials doing business, family members doing business, officials lending money, etc., they are all prohibited. If an official comes from a businessman's family, the official position he holds must have nothing to do with family affairs, and he is not allowed to serve as a particularly powerful official to avoid being involved in the family business.
This kind of thing would have been very difficult for Wang Xiaolie in his previous life. Some people will jump out and say, it definitely won’t work. Why doesn't it actually work? This should have been the norm in officialdom. It's just because of the ruler's personal reasons, or because of power, or because of inheritance, or because of the power of his family, that he doesn't implement it.
When New China was first founded, it used to be like this. Of course, people at that time were idealistic and the pay was a bit low. If Wang Xiaolie doesn't talk about his ideals with officials, he just gives them more money. Suppressing power, the rich look down on the high salaries of officials, but most people do. With enough backup candidates, the system can be maintained. Whether the people behind him can persist is not Wang Xiaolie's consideration.
Some people always think that there will be a perfect system that can last for thousands of years. Or there is always a governing principle that can last for thousands of years. Wang Xiaolie didn't think so. Each generation has its own tasks and each generation has its own responsibilities. Don’t think too far ahead.
Political books say that the state is a tool of class rule. That is their politics, not Wang Xiaolie's politics. Wang Xiaolie's politics is that the political power must be above all the forces in the country, and officials must be above all the forces under their rule. This country is a country of the people, not a country of any class. The task of the country is to ensure that it represents the interests of the people and not to be kidnapped by any force.
Is this kind of politics okay? Can it be implemented? Wang Xiaolie didn't know. But at least give it a try.
Wang Xiaolie's politics are far from those of old bureaucrats like Chen Yuyi, and their ideals. Including Chen Yuyi, all the old bureaucrats couldn't adapt. So what if you don’t adapt? Either do it according to the rules or don't do it. Wang Xiaolie doesn't force it. With a large army in his hands, even if everyone around him can manage the mess of the place, Wang Xiaolie can do the same.
Wang Xiaolie prepared some food and wine, and watched the moon with his sister under the sycamore tree.
After drinking two glasses of wine, Wang Xiaolie said: "From now on, my sister will live here and live a leisurely life. My monthly salary of 250 yuan is enough for my sister's expenses. If Wang Zhong's family is willing, they can do it Use my salary to do some miscellaneous things."
Wang Qingxiu said curiously: "I heard people say that the governor was like the vassal town in the former Tang Dynasty, in charge of local military and political power. Moreover, local taxes did not have to be paid to the court. The territory under your rule is all yours. Why? Are you still talking about salary?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "I was thinking about this a few days ago, but I couldn't figure it out. I am the governor of the town, how should I get along with the officials under my rule, and how should the local money and materials be arranged. After collecting taxes, or other How should money be disposed of? How much should be spent on the people? How much should be paid to the officials? How much should I take? I can’t figure it out. The last time I went home to see my sister, I suddenly figured it out. What’s so difficult about this? I am the governor of the town. , the official is an observation envoy, and the imperial court has a grade and an official salary, so what is there to worry about? Just because you are a governor, you cannot treat all the money in the local area as your own. If you have more money left, save it. If I borrow money when I don’t have enough money, what does it have to do with my own money?”
Wang Qingxiu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "How can I, a woman, know these things? Just do what you want. Two hundred and fifty dollars a month, the two of us can't spend it all. Including Wang Zhong's family, It’s enough.”
Wang Xiaolie said: "Then we will cover the household expenses of Wang Zhong's family and let him enjoy some happiness later. Originally, I thought that after you arrive in Xiangyang, you can do something and earn some money to spend. But then I thought, I won't allow the following. How can this be true in the world when an official is engaged in business while his own family is engaged in business? My sister should enjoy some leisure time at home and not cause others to gossip."
Wang Qingxiu naturally had no objection. He nodded and chatted.
When we are living in this world, we are always used to thinking about ourselves and the world separately. After becoming an official, I thought about how to use the power of officials to make my children and grandchildren prosperous and ensure the wealth of the family. After becoming the emperor, he thought about how to consolidate his position so that his descendants would not lose the emperor.
In fact, where are there so many things? The reason why I became an official was not because of how good my destiny was, nor how great I was, but just by chance. Earn more money so that your children and grandchildren can live a better life and receive a better education. This is their blessing. If the descendants fail to live up to expectations, what can be done? Isn't it harming the people if they still allow their descendants to have so much power despite clearly failing to live up to expectations?
If a person wants to do great things, he must jump out of this. If you can't jump out, you will always think about yourself and your descendants, which will not only harm your own family, but also the people of the world. If you become an official yourself, you will get your salary. Everything else will naturally be discussed later.
