Zhu Yunwen naturally had no objection to the Military Academy's desire to connect with the small teaching field. Broad theories cannot replace actual operations. Real talents always combine knowledge and action.
After Gu Pu left, Zhu Yunwen once again set his sights on the field of education. In order to support education, the Ministry of Household Affairs has invested no less than three million taels. This amount of money is enough to support a large-scale war, but it is insufficient to invest in education.
The Ministry of Rites repeatedly asked for money, not because of greed, but because education is a bottomless pit. Throw in a hundred thousand taels, and there will be no sound. Throw in a million taels, and there will still be no sound.
With the rapid development of social studies, the signs of cultural and educational development are getting stronger and stronger, and private students are actively participating in it. In addition, in recent years, most of the graduates of the Imperial College have been diverted to prefectures, counties, and social studies, which has initially solved the problem. solved the problem of insufficient teachers.
The construction of social schools requires teachers and even more buildings, and these must be supported by a large amount of finance. In the six years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the number of new social schools opened in the year was 3,200, of which more than 2,000 were completely new. , and each new social studies school costs no less than 500 taels of food. This is the result after lowering costs.
Now the Ministry of Rites has begun to focus on county schools and government schools, especially the expansion of county schools has become the most urgent issue.
There are dozens or hundreds of social schools in a county, but there is only one county school.
If we want the county school to accept students who have graduated from social studies, we must expand the number of buildings in the county school, from more than 30 rooms to more than 300 rooms. Once the roads are opened, there will be no problem in accommodating one to two thousand people. .
The county school wants to expand, but where is the money...
The question comes again. If the county school expands, doesn’t the government school need to expand? If the government school expands, doesn’t the Imperial College need to expand?
The culture and education of the Ming Dynasty was different from that of the Tang and Song Dynasties. The culture and education of the Tang and Song Dynasties was more concentrated on a group of scholars, while the culture and education strategy of the Ming Dynasty was for the whole people. All children of the Ming Dynasty should attend social studies.
The stall was too big, and the money spent was unimaginable. In order to support education, Xia Yuanji gritted his teeth and transferred one million taels of banknotes that had just been put into the warehouse to use for the expansion or reconstruction of the county school.
Culture and education are taking root and sprouting, and what emerges from the ground is the future.
Zhu Yunwen is under pressure, the Ministry of Revenue is under pressure, and the local yamen are under pressure, all for the future of the Ming Dynasty. Only after ten years can the talent base reach a certain level. Quantitative changes will induce qualitative changes. By then, the Ming Dynasty will usher in an era of abundant talents. .
Meeting the next day.
After dealing with some court affairs, Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Household Affairs, came out and reported: "Your Majesty, in the fourth year of Jianwen's reign, he issued a decree requiring a census of the population, the creation of the Yellow Book, and the promulgation of personal identification cards and personal identification cards. Now, now In the past two years and seven months, through the unremitting efforts of tens of thousands of local officials, censors, supervisors, and other personnel, the Yellow Register was finally completed to clarify the population and land."
Zhu Yunwen nodded slightly. The court had spent a lot of manpower and material resources on these matters, and it was time to give a result.
Xia Yuanji cleared his throat, glanced at the tablet in his hand, and said loudly: "Considering that the compilation of the yellow books was not thorough, and the yellow books in some places lacked women's information, there were many mistakes. In order to ensure the authenticity of the data, the Ministry of Household Affairs The total population, including farmers, military households, craftsmen households, etc., except for Xijiang Province, is calculated based on the ID cards and badges issued by the Ministry of Household Affairs and local governments. The number of households in the world is 17583754, and the population is 71658439. Compared with the 26th year of Hongwu, there is an increase 1,430,884 households, an increase of 6,512,627 people.”
Zhu Yunwen has bright eyes and a population of more than 70 million. This data should be reliable for the Ming Dynasty, which has been developing for nearly 40 years. Nearly twelve years have passed from the 26th year of Hongwu to the 7th year of Jianwen. In more than ten years, there has been a net increase of 6.5 million people. Although it is a bit low, considering that ancient people did not live long, they could suffer from fever, wind and cold. Damn it, disasters and war attrition during the Hongwu and Jianwen periods should not be a big data problem.
Xia Yuanji continued to report the number of acres of land: "With the whip method and land inventory, together with the Tianxia Guards, the total land is 427.64 million acres (that is, 427.64 million acres). Compared with the 26th year of Hongwu, A reduction of 423.12 million acres.”
There was a sudden commotion in the court hall.
In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu, the court inspected the land area and found that the total number of acres was 850.76 million acres. However, in the Jianwen Dynasty, it suddenly dropped by half. This result is really shocking.
From 800 million acres to 400 million acres, anyone can bear it.
Chen Jizhi immediately came out of the incident and said: "Your Majesty, I am impeaching the Ministry of Household Affairs for not doing things well, or for covering up the land and acres."
A group of officials seconded the proposal.
Zhu Yunwen didn't speak, just watched quietly.
Xia Yuanji was silent. Zhu Gaochi, the head of the Department of Household Affairs, came out and shouted: "In the 26th year of Hongwu's survey, 850 million acres were discovered. Do you dare to believe it?"
As soon as these words came out, the court fell into silence.
Zhu Gaochi took two staggering steps forward and said to Zhu Yunwen: "Your Majesty, the data for the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu contains serious errors and is already untrustworthy."
Chen Jizhi asked: "Master Zhu, don't you believe it if you say you can't believe it? Is there any evidence?"
Zhu Gaochi took out a booklet from his sleeve, shook it and said to Chen Jizhi: "This contains the statistics compiled by Hongwu in the 26th year. Of the 850 million acres of land, Henan Province alone has 150 million acres of land." Tens of millions of acres. I dare to ask Chen Yushi. The population of Henan is only more than 700,000 households. How can we cultivate 150 million acres? Can an ordinary family cultivate two hundred acres?"
"Also, in the 24th year of Hongwu's reign, there were 387.47 million acres of farmland, but in just two years, it increased to 850.76 million acres. With so many acres added, why did agricultural taxes not increase much? Why did Henan's taxes still not increase but instead decrease? ? How can such a huge flaw and such data errors be trusted?"
Zhu Yunwen nodded. The data for the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu was surprisingly strange. It suddenly reached more than 800 million acres of farmland, and then fell back to half. This result is really difficult to explain.
I don’t know how Zhu Yuanzhang felt when he saw this set of data. Did he ask, if the acres of land increased, where did my taxes go...
"The data of the 26th year of Hongwu's reign are not allowed to be invalidated. Let's use the data of the 24th year of Hongwu's reign as the standard."
Zhu Yunwen spoke.
The censor and others retreated.
After Xia Yuanji reported the total number to Zhu Yunwen, he began to report the data of Southern Zhili, Northern Zhili and each province. These data were complex and boring, but extremely important and related to the court's policy implementation.
Zhu Yunwen listened very carefully, looking at the booklet handed over by the Ministry of Household Affairs from time to time. At the end, he said: "Prefectures with too concentrated populations can arrange immigration, such as Dongchang, Shandong, where the per capita land area is less than 20 acres, but Qingzhou There are still large areas of barren land in Qingzhou, Laizhou, Dengzhou and other places. You can order the chief envoy of Shandong to make great efforts to rectify floods and droughts in Qingzhou and other places, and move some people there, so as to increase the harvest of acres. Other provinces can also conduct surveys first and report After reporting to the capital, you can then immigrate."
Xia Yuanji agreed.
This immigration is not large-scale, it is just a movement and redistribution within a province, state, capital and county. The number is not large, the distance is not far, and the pressure on the Ministry of Household Affairs is not great.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the officials: "Population and land acres are the foundation of the country, and they should also be the top priority in the assessment of court officials. I believe that population, land acres, taxation, and education should be the four major areas of assessment for officials in various places. Official integrity should no longer be used as an evaluation criterion."
"this……"
The officials in the Ministry of Personnel were panicked. How could this be done? If integrity is not assessed, wouldn’t it mean that corrupt officials are rampant?
Mao Taiheng hurriedly left the office: "Your Majesty, if local officials are not honest, it may affect the people! If the assessment does not focus on integrity, it will let the evil tiger out of the cage, and the harm will be endless. ah."
Zhu Yunwen looked at Mao Taiheng and other officials majestically, and said sternly: "What I mean is that being honest is the duty of an official and the most basic morality. If he is not honest, he will be dismissed directly. Why bother to participate in the assessment? The imperial court pays a salary every year Countless officials, regardless of their rank or rank, have been given the salary they deserve by the imperial court, which is enough to support their families and keep some surplus. If corruption occurs under such circumstances, you will be in danger. , why should the imperial court use him?"
"When I say that incorruptibility will not be included in the assessment criteria, it is not to relax the inspection of incorruption, but to draw a red line for officials all over the world. If they are not honest, they will be dismissed and dealt with according to the law. During the Hongwu period, corruption was punishable by death. I will not The main killer, but I am the main punisher! I have worked hard for ten or twenty years to put on the official uniform and official hat. If I don’t want to fall down, always remember that corruption is a red line. If you cross the line, you will lose everything!”
Jian Yi was shocked. Zhu Yunwen was trying to strengthen the administration of officials.
There is no longer an integrity item in the assessment, but it does not mean that the court judges whether officials are honest or not, but it is to make the officials who enter the assessment more inclined to be honest, so as to ensure the overall purity of the official team.
Integrity is removed from the assessment item because integrity is a threshold for entering the official assessment. If you cross the threshold, you are not qualified to enter the official assessment. It is similar to if you want to attend a banquet, you must first be able to enter the gate and stand at the door. There is no way to eat outside the gate.
Zhu Yunwen does not mind dismissing hundreds of officials now. Many useful talents have emerged from the Imperial College, and these talents are being trained at the bottom and can be used at any time.
There is no such thing as a completely clean and honest official team, but efforts towards building a clean and honest team cannot be slackened. At the same time, we must also emphasize population, land, taxation, and education to encourage officials to encourage people to have children, reclaim land, and eliminate illiteracy.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the cabinet Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi: "Draw up a document to inform the prefectures and counties about the changes in assessment. At the same time, the Metropolitan Procuratorate also needs to keep a close eye on the censors and supervise local officials. Once corruption and bribery are discovered, the common people will be exploited and collude with the local gentry. , Controlling mines and other illegal activities must be reported in time, and reviewed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Dongchang and the Security Bureau. Once confirmed, they will be removed from their official positions and dealt with according to law!"
