Chapter 676: Huairou
"Come on, Brother Zhu! You are in your prime now, what do you do as the Supreme Emperor at such a young age? Do you think that the abdication of the throne is just a matter of playing house, and that you will give it up as soon as you say it?"
Seeing that the man in front of him, who had been the emperor for forty-eight years in the original history and was the longest reigning emperor in the Ming Dynasty, was actually thinking about being lazy and becoming the 'overlord', Wang Bing couldn't help but feel speechless for a while.
As the saying goes, one emperor and one courtier. The change of throne is no joke. Not to mention in this 'feudal dynasty', even in the later 'democratic' period, the normal changes of leaders of this country are all cautious.
You must know that the team problem between the old and new emperors brought about by the change of throne is not an easy problem to solve. After all, both the emperor and his ministers have different interests and demands, right?
What's more, Ming Dynasty has just completed the internal "software" upgrade of the New Deal Reform. What it needs most now is the word "stability", which can withstand a change in the throne.
Therefore, after being surprised by the little fat man's whim-like idea, Wang Bing poured cold water on him.
"If you have time to think about things that have no trace, you might as well think carefully about how to better implement this matter of 'officials and gentry all pay for themselves and work as errands'!"
In the end, after pouring cold water on the little fat man, Wang Bing directly changed the topic to the matter of 'officials and gentry working together as errands', without giving the little fat man a chance to discuss this issue again.
"Don't worry, Third Brother. Now that we have these memorials and the 'cooperation' of the Jiangnan gentry, there won't be any more twists and turns in this matter of 'officials and gentry working together to pay for food and work', haha!"
Seeing Wang Bing's attitude, the little fat man finally had no choice but to give up the topic of 'the Supreme Emperor' and turned his attention to 'business'.
Speaking of which, despite the small number of these hundreds of "petition memorials" and the low official positions of the people who submitted them, they almost represent the attitude of the entire Jiangnan gentry, and are also the attitude of the stronghold of the Ming Dynasty civil servant gentry group.
And with the 'support' and leadership of this 'base camp', the 'little karami' in other places will naturally neither know nor dare to say anything.
"I'm not worried about their recurrence. It's just that from the beginning of Mr. Zhang's New Deal reforms to the present, we have always used force to deal with these civil servants and gentry... But as the saying goes, things must be reversed when they are extreme, and excess is never enough. Shouldn't it be appropriate now?"
Please be gentle and leave some thoughts for me?"
Looking at the little fat man's confident smile, Wang Bing shook his head, and changed his usual attitude and said something about being "warm and gentle".
"Oh? Third child, this is not like your style! Don't you always hate these civil servants and gentry? Why are you saying good things for these people now?"
Seeing that Wang Bing, who had never had a good impression of civil servants and gentry, actually spoke up for him, the little fat man couldn't help but be puzzled.
"What do you mean I'm saying nice things to these people? Don't you think giving them a red date occasionally while beating them with a big stick can make them more motivated, haha!"
As Wang Bing said, since the little fat man came to the throne, starting from Zhang Juzheng's New Deal reforms, then to the little fat man's subsequent military reforms, commercial taxation, and now the upcoming "officials and gentry paying grain and serving as errands", it can be said that almost everything has happened.
Suppressing with an iron fist.
Although it seems that the "resistance spring" of this series of reforms has been completely crushed to death, it is indeed time to add some "lubricating oil" to it.
Therefore, based on the principle of carrot and stick, and with the purpose of better squeezing these gentry and civil servant groups, Wang Bing made a "soft" suggestion to the little fat man.
"Well, that's true! If you want a horse to run, you have to feed it! Third brother, tell me, how can you be gentle with these civil servants and gentry?"
After hearing Wang Bing's metaphor, the little fat man couldn't help but nodded in agreement.
"Isn't this simple? Fame and fortune are tempting. In life, you either seek fame or profit. Even an honest man like Zhongjie Gong has his own pursuits, doesn't he? Haha!"
Upon hearing the little fat man's question, Wang Bing threw out the big killer weapon of 'fame and fortune' without even thinking about it.
As the saying goes, the bustling world is all about fame; the bustling world is all about fame and fortune. How many people in the world can avoid it?
Therefore, if you use the big killer weapon of fame and wealth as bait, don't worry if people don't take the bait.
"For those gentry in power, we can use names and honors to seduce them. For example, for those who actively pay taxes to the court, we can publicize them in newspapers to make them famous. Brother Zhu can even give them a medal.
A title like 'elder' or a medal will do..."
After laughing, Wang Bing did not hide his teasing, and then gave the little fat man a helpful and cost-effective idea regarding his gentle policy towards the gentry in the countryside.
"As for those officials in the government, in addition to these honorary titles, they still need to get some practical benefits. The simplest one is of course a salary increase. And in this way, some can be reduced to a certain extent.
Corruption matters..."
Speaking of which, throughout the dynasties, when it comes to combating corruption the most, the Ming Dynasty dares to say that it is second, but no one dares to say that it is first, at least during the Hongwu period.
Quite a few years ago, in order to punish corruption, Emperor Taizu even built the "Pieling Xuancao" and the "Pichang Temple".
However, in the face of such harsh punishments, corruption still cannot be stopped. Not only that, since the Ming Dynasty, official corruption has been worse than in previous dynasties.
The reason for this situation does not mean that officials in the Ming Dynasty are inherently greedy than other dynasties. It is because Emperor Taizu's calculations were too "accurate" when formulating official salaries. If they are accurate enough, as long as they are not greedy, then
He can only live a poor life like Hai Rui.
But the reason why people are called human beings is because they have seven emotions and six desires, and have relationships with each other. Is this true for ordinary people, let alone those scholars and officials who have studied hard for more than ten years in a humble window just to become famous all over the world?
After all, not all officials only have "ideal ambitions" in their hearts. If an official's life is not as comfortable as that of a commoner, how many people will be willing to become officials?
Therefore, without the strong suppression of Emperor Hongwu, the entire officialdom of the Ming Dynasty inevitably fell into a state of collective corruption.
"Lao San, it's okay to issue some honorary titles to those gentry in the countryside. But this will increase the salary of officials. The salary of these officials was set by Emperor Taizu, and it is clearly stipulated in the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions", hehe
!”
As soon as he heard that officials were to be given more salary, the little fat man suddenly became unhappy. For this reason, he even moved out all the 'ancestral systems' that he usually looked down upon, in order to block the king.
Mouth of ice.
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Chapter completed!