Liu Jin looked at Lin Pan and other officials of Shuntian Prefecture. How could he not know their situation?
It was very difficult to be an official in ancient times. It took many years of hard study to become an official. At least one had to be a civil servant to be qualified to be an official, but it was very difficult to become a civil servant.
Even a great talent like Wen Zhengming, who has been taking the provincial examination for 27 years, has never passed the provincial examination since he was 18 years old.
There are also great talents like Zhu Zhishan, one of the four great talents in Wuzhong. He was admitted to the Juren Examination, but failed to pass the Jinshi Examination seven times.
Those who were able to become officials in ancient times had to work hard step by step, and it was definitely not that easy.
Therefore, I cherish the power in my hands very much. I am not willing to let go of the power in my hands. I have to take care of everything by myself, and there will naturally be more things to do.
In the past, the city was small, with few things to do, and you could drink tea leisurely. Now the capital is expanding day by day, the population is booming, and all kinds of problems are emerging. If you still want to be the same as before, you will naturally be tired and unable to do things well.
But is it okay to keep going like this?
This is definitely not possible. The capital is becoming more and more prosperous, and the responsibilities and requirements of the government are getting higher and higher. The reason why the proportion of officials and civilians is so large in later generations is actually closely related to the responsibilities and requirements of the government.
In ancient times, it was very comfortable to be an official. In each county, the master would lead a few minor officials, and then add some minor officials, official servants, government servants and the like.
Because under the ancient small-scale peasant economy, not much happened at all. They only needed to review cases, preside over scientific examinations, and sometimes organize everyone to build roads and city walls.
Most of the time, these officials sit at home with their legs crossed, reading books, and traveling around. The imperial power does not go to the countryside. If anything happens in the township, the folks in the clan will basically solve it, and they cannot come to the officials.
However, as the small-scale peasant economy continues to be destroyed and the capitalist economy develops, the demands on the government are getting higher and higher, and there are more and more things happening.
To put it simply, production relations must continue to transform and adapt with the development of productive forces.
"Lin Pan, how old are you this year?"
After thinking about it, Liu Jin also asked about Lin Pan's age. Judging from his appearance, he was over sixty and it was time to retire.
"The lower official is already sixty-two years old."
When Lin Pan heard this, his face immediately turned pale. Liu Jin asked about his age. Could it be that he was going to be sent home for retirement?
He couldn't bear it.
Looking back on my life, I found that the road to the imperial examination was relatively smooth. However, I passed the imperial examination in my thirties and became a Jinshi in my forties. I spent more than ten years in the officialdom and finally reached the position of the governor of Shuntian Prefecture. It was not easy.
After becoming a third-rank official, he still thought about whether he could be promoted to the sixth-rank official and become a minister, minister, or something like that.
"Sixty-two?"
"Mr. Lin, you're getting older, so it's better not to be too tired."
After hearing this, Liu Jin nodded slightly, thought for a while and said.
"I understand, I understand. I understand."
When Lin Pan heard this, he immediately trembled slightly, and then replied without energy.
Liu Jin, a cabinet minister, said that he was getting older and should not work too hard. He would not think about messing around in the future and should go home early to take good care of himself.
It’s just that I really can’t reconcile myself to it.
I have only been a manager for more than ten years, and I have not been an official of this third-level official for a few years. I have not fully enjoyed the power in my hands.
How can I be willing to go home and take care of myself in old age?
However, I'm afraid it won't be possible if I don't go back to retire.
He is an official here in the capital, and Liu Jin's character has been known for a long time.
This is an unscrupulous master. I don’t know how many people have tried to use Liu Jin’s back door, but Liu Jin refused to accept any of them, and by the way, he severely reprimanded the person who gave the gift.
Everyone knows that Liu Jin is selfless and selfless, and Liu Jin is even more cool than Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Ji Zhong and others.
At any rate, they would charge some filial piety, some writing fees, etc. Liu Jin never did these things, and he never wrote inscriptions or anything like that for anyone.
Of course, Liu Jin himself is the God of Wealth. He has plenty of money and doesn't care about money at all.
The only way to get Liu Jin's appreciation is to do your job conscientiously and show outstanding political achievements. Even if you have nothing to do with Liu Jin, he will still promote you.
If you live a simple life and do nothing, he will send you to Golden Continent or Australia to read newspapers.
For this reason, Liu Jin also offended many ministers, but there was nothing he could do. Liu Jin was a popular figure around the emperor, and had good relations with the big bosses in the court. He was also a representative of the noble military officers.
Since Liu Jin became an official, I don’t know how many impeachment notices have been received, but all of them are useless. On the contrary, some of those who impeached Liu Jin have grass growing on their graves now, and some are in the distant Golden Continent, Australia.
Siberia misses home.
He said he wanted to go home and take care of himself, so he must go home and take care of himself.
Thinking about it carefully, I have actually lived a very tiring, miserable life in the past few years, and I was always on guard.
He was greatly responsible for the occurrence of bullies in Huairou County in the past two years. The management of the capital city was not good, and he performed poorly in every year-end evaluation.
In addition, he is really old, and his body is not as good as before. The key is that his thinking cannot keep up with the times. Facing more and more complex and more affairs, he sometimes feels powerless. In fact,
I don't know how to deal with it.
"That's fine, go home and take good care of yourself in old age."
Lin Pan sighed in his heart and decided to go back and write his invitation and memorial.
Liu Jin took Zhu Houzhao out of Shuntian Mansion Office and continued to stroll around the capital.
Soon we came to Dongcheng New District again.
Dongcheng New District is simply too different from Nancheng New District.
Everything here has no planning, the roads are winding, and the houses on the streets are of different sizes and widths. It can be seen that many of them are built randomly and without a trace of planning.
This is mainly because the land in Dongcheng is not in the hands of Liu Jin, but in the hands of these dignitaries and landlords in the capital. You have a piece of land and I have a piece of land.
The land in the capital is becoming more and more valuable. Anyone who builds a house and rents it out can receive a lot of rent. This has also stimulated the continuous construction of houses in these places.
There are also some powerful people who are engaged in real estate development, but the relevant supporting facilities are not well prepared. Therefore, the two places of Dongcheng and Beicheng are the most unplanned and messy places.
Factories, residential areas, private houses, shops, and a large number of shanty towns are all clustered together in a mess, and there are no supporting drainage systems and water supply systems.
The dignitaries, landlords and gentry who invested in these places did not discuss it carefully and were reluctant to invest. The roads in many places are still dirt roads.
Therefore, the entire city looks very dirty and messy. It cannot be compared with the New City in the South District and the West District. The land in the South District is basically owned by Liu Jin, so it is the best planned.
A large part of the land in the West District belongs to Liu Jin. Liu Jin can also discuss with other people and plan well, so the construction is extremely good, the planning is neat, and there is no mess.
"Your Highness, look at the Dongcheng District in front of you."
"It is very messy, very dirty, messy, and without any planning. It may be better now, but as time goes by, it will be difficult to carry out unified planning and construction here in the future."
"City construction like this, urban construction and infrastructure actually require the guidance and planning of the government, not just here in the capital, but also in Tianjin, Nanjing, or other cities in the Ming Dynasty."
"In the future, the scale will become larger and larger, and the urban population will increase. If the government model is still the same as before, and the people are just allowed to build randomly."
"A city will look very ugly, and it cannot be built well at all. It will be a huge waste of resources and land, and the sanitary conditions will be very poor. It is very easy for large-scale plagues and diseases to occur like European cities.
.”
"In the Southern District New City, because the land is in our hands, we can carry out orderly planning and construction. The gap between the Southern District and the Eastern District can be seen."
"The streets in the South District are spacious, well-planned, with convenient transportation, and clean and hygienic. In the East District, the roads are narrow, poorly planned, traffic jams, and dirty. Look at these houses, and then look at these streets."
"It's hard to imagine why there are such huge differences in the same capital city. The fundamental reason for this is whether there is a unified plan."
"The land in the Southern District is in our hands, so it is easier to plan, but in the Eastern District, the land is scattered in everyone's hands. In this capital city where every inch of land is precious, neither side will make the slightest concession, so it is very difficult.
It’s hard to plan.”
"Shuntian Prefecture has no plans, no time and energy to take care of these things, and no time to think about these things. Secondly, it does not dare to take care of these things, because the land here is basically the land of the dignitaries and ministers in the capital.
It’s not easy to offend anyone.”
Liu Jin was talking, and Zhu Houzhao was listening carefully.
Beijing is also facing many problems now. The emergence of new urban areas requires planning and management, and the old urban areas also need re-planning and management.
However, Shuntian Prefecture does not have such responsibilities and functions at all, and there is no way to effectively manage these. This has resulted in a huge gap between the new city in the south district and the old district in the east district.
"Your Highness, Shuntian Prefecture can be used as a pilot project to restructure the government offices of Ming Dynasty's big cities so that they can better adapt to the needs of urban development."