These people called Mr. Xiao, Mr. Lu, and Mr. Duan are not pirates, but just businessmen with ties to pirates. Among them, Mr. Duan, whose real name is Duan He, also has the title of scholar; Mr. Xiao and
There are also people in Lu Laoer's family who are scholars.
Because they are not pirates and are well-known local gentry, as long as they are not caught on the spot trading with pirates and do not default on taxes, the local government will not do anything to them. And they open a copy of it through the government's subordinates
The road is not difficult to navigate, and Jiaxing Prefecture is close to Songjiang Prefecture, so we made an appointment to go to Shanghu County to explore the situation.
Shanghu County is really going to open the sea. Around the time of Zhu Yuanzhang's death, 50-60% of the pirates along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were wiped out, and 40-50% of the remaining pirates went ashore to act as good citizens, or went to the big and small Ryukyu Islands or even the 11th District
went.
Naturally, Zhang Yanfang didn't know what was going on. After seeing a large number of severed heads and cowering pirates, and confirming through cross-examination that these people were not ordinary farmers who were killed for good deeds, he thought that all the pirates in this area were cleared.
Paid.
In addition, everything along the west bank of the Huangpu River had been built, and the gentry in Shanghu County always secretly reminded him to open the sea as soon as possible, so Zhang Yanfang formally wrote a letter requesting to open the sea.
Yunxi received the document on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. In addition to requesting a date for the official opening of the sea, Zhang Yanfang also requested the allocation of manpower and permission to recruit servants. As for the specific regulations, Zhang Yanfang was waiting for the manpower to be enough.
It can be arranged.
When Yunxi saw that it was about opening up the sea, he did not issue it and approved it himself. After he approved it, he had someone call Lian Zining, the Minister of Civil Affairs, over.
After a while, Lian Zining came. Yunxi said to him: "Lian Qing, please discuss with Mr. Xu, the Jiuzijian Jijiu, to select some officials to be the city's prosecutors. After you have selected them, submit the list of people to
I."
"And inform Qi Tai of this matter. He also asked Qi Tai to look around the Ministry of Household Affairs to see where there is room to build a Yamen for the Shibo Tiju Department. Although most of the officials of the Shi Bo Tiju Department will be in the treaty ports in the future,
But there are people in Beijing."
"Oh, I can't give you the zhezi yet. You can find someone from Zhongshushe to copy it and then send the zhezi back."
Lian Zining said: "Yes, Your Majesty." Then he took the folder, opened it and looked at it.
Before he finished reading, Lian Zining said: "Your Majesty, why are there so many officials in the Shiboti Judicial Office? Although most of them are ninth-grade or unqualified officials, there are probably too many."
"The Shipping Department of Zhao Song Dynasty only had four or five officials, and the others were all civil servants."
Yunxi said: "It is common knowledge that subordinate officials do harm to the local area. Emperor Taizu was well aware of the harm done by subordinate officials, so he repeatedly investigated them when he was in power. However, subordinate officials are often natives of the hometown, and it is difficult for outside county officials to control them, so
There are still endless incidents of subordinate officials harming the people."
"Today, I intend to replace some of the officials with unofficial officials. However, there are too many prefectures and counties in the world, so it is difficult to implement it at the moment. Now that the Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs has been newly established, it is the time for the new regulations to be established, so I have appointed more officials.
, and there will be fewer staff. However, the officers can only use local people."
Everyone knows that subordinate officials do harm to the place. Lian Zining's father is an official, so there are relatively few cases of subordinate officials harming the family; but his father is just a small official like Tong Ju, and the subordinate officials he has seen harm the people.
There are a lot of things going on, so I don’t have any objection to Yunxi’s idea.
However, Lian Zining was keenly aware that by replacing officials with unofficial officials, Yunxi was quietly trying to abolish the system of dividing officials and officials that had been in place since the Zhao and Song Dynasties.
Since the arrival of Zhao Kuangyin, Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, officials have been divided. Petty officials cannot be promoted to officials, and they cannot even take part in the imperial examinations, and their children cannot take part in the imperial examinations. In the Tang Dynasty, there were people like Di Renjie who were promoted from petty officials to prime ministers. In Zhao and Song Dynasties, Di Renjie was even more outstanding. It's no use forcing.
Lian Zining himself had no objection to such a thing, so he did not speak out and accepted the order and resigned. Yunxi continued to take care of the matter.
After finishing sorting the zhezi, Yunxi ordered the zhezi to be sent to the General Administration Department. He thought about it for a while and then said to Wang Xi: "Go in person and call the consort Mei Yin."
Wang Xi immediately took the order and left.
Mei Yin, his wife is Princess Ningguo, the only daughter of Empress Xiaocigao (Empress Ma). Mei Yin was both civil and military. He once studied politics in Shandong and served as a military commander. His performance was very good, so Zhu Yuanzhang valued him very much. Before his death, he One person who asked Yunxi to reuse him was Mei Yin.
But later generations of Yunxi knew the history of "Jingnan". During the "Jingnan" period, Mei Yin had hundreds of thousands of troops to guard Huai'an when Zhu Di attacked the Huaihe River Basin, but it had no effect at all. When Zhu Di crossed the Huai River and marched towards Yangzhou, Mei Yin actually held his troops without moving. It felt a bit similar to Li Tianxia who said during the Battle of Menglianggu that "friendly troops are in trouble and cannot move as hard as a mountain".
Yunxi didn't know whether Mei Yin was holding back because he secretly supported Zhu Di, or whether he had no confidence in himself, or whether he was slow to respond and hesitant. Anyway, Yunxi didn't think he should reuse Mei Yin. Which of the above three factors does Mei Yin belong to? This is a fatal problem for the general in charge of the army.
But Yunxi had to use Mei Yin. Although Zhu Yuanzhang's will before his death was unknown to everyone, even a blind person could see Zhu Yuanzhang's favor for Mei Yin during his lifetime. Some people have criticized Yunxi for not using Mei Yin; and Ning Guo Relying on the fact that she was an elder and the only daughter of Empress Xiaocigao, the princess had already gone to the palace to find Xiyao and told Xiyao about this matter in a half-covered manner.
Yunxi thought repeatedly about the official position that was suitable for Mei Yin. Today he made up his mind and asked someone to call him into the palace.
At this time, at Princess Ningguo's Mansion, Mei Yin and his wife were also talking about this matter.
Princess Ningguo said: "Mei Lang, you said, Your Majesty has been in court to deal with political affairs for many days, and all the rewards and promotions that should be given have been completed. Why haven't you heard of your errand? I went to the queen to mention it last time. Once I opened my mouth, no words came out now."
Mei Yin said: "How can we guess His Majesty's holy will? And I'm afraid you won't be able to find the queen. Judging from the emperor's intention, he is strict about the affairs of the harem."
Princess Ningguo said: "I am the eldest princess of the Ming Dynasty, and you are my husband. How can it be regarded as a matter of the court? It is obviously a matter between relatives."
"Besides, I don't believe that my father didn't mention you before he passed away. Even if I didn't look for you, I should have arranged an official position for you a long time ago. Why haven't you been arranged yet?"
Princess Ning Guo said angrily: "He is so stingy to his own family, but he is very kind to outsiders. Look at Lan Siqi, as the princess in the palace, he is more favored than us serious princesses. Wait for that day. If I can’t bear it anymore, I’ll go to the Ancestral Temple to cry!”
