Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 651
The dusk is heavy, and the fishing boat is getting late.

The turbid Yellow River flows through with sand, and as the evening wind blows, the water swirls around the pier.

Huge steam trains pass across the river, and thick white smoke rises from the Yellow River Bridge.

The sound of rattling passed through the sky and reached the market town ten miles away, and the houses in the market town had already raised a little smoke.

With the completion of the main railway line, the number of market towns along the way also increased, and the population of Daming towns also increased sharply.

Now what Zhu Youjian can see is that the densely populated towns can be seen almost not far away from the train.

Occasionally, people can be seen driving a carriage on the country road, and the carriage is full of melons and fruits.

In addition, Zhu Youjian can also see some factories that are steaming, the sound of steel rolling can be faintly heard, and workers and engineers in blue shirts are directing something on the [-]-meter-high iron frame.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help but smile slightly, the Ming Dynasty at this time seemed to be the era of the combination of classical and modern, weird but not messy.

"The population census was just completed last year. There are [-]% more first-class citizens in Henan than five years ago, but the increase in second-class and third-class citizens is slightly higher. Now there are mainly high-risk jobs in public construction and factories. They are all engaged in the work, and the death rate is relatively high, I want to reduce the death rate appropriately, and spread smallpox and plague vaccination among them."

With Zhu Youjian's permission, Chen Zhenhui boarded the special car, and sat at the same table as Zhu Youjian, eating Henan braised noodles with Zhu Youjian while talking about Henan population.

"This is a very good move. Ming Dynasty divided citizens into three classes. It is not because we must discriminate against people who are not of Han blood. In fact, social relations are destined to be a pyramid. Those who enjoy happiness must have hard work. We Han people must think about everyone. To have a good life, we must have people who are exploited by us;

The Han people followed me to conquer the world, revive the Ming Dynasty, sacrifice countless benefits, and even spill the blood of countless people on this land. They deserve to enjoy the benefits given to them by this era, and these second-class and third-class citizens, we did not slaughter them , has been regarded as grace;

But since I am already a citizen of Ming Dynasty, for the sake of the country's long-term plan, it is natural to guarantee its sufficient population base, and it is also necessary to properly guarantee its length of life. You can't just let the horse run and not let the horse graze, but the Sinicization of this The general outline cannot be abandoned. Except for the Han people, the second and third class citizens can only receive Confucian education. "

After Zhu Youjian said, Chen Zhenhui nodded: "I understand that the language and behavior of the second and third class citizens in Henan are no different from our first class citizens, only more pedantic than the first class citizens, and even more loyal to the court. , say what they are living now is the life of human beings, it is all the good fortune given to them by His Majesty, and they should observe filial piety and loyalty."

"That's good, but speaking of it, it's normal for them to feel happy now. Now they are better than they were serfs back then. At least they have books to read, fields to plow, jobs to do, and the court to help them in times of disaster. This is when their native chiefs were in power, whoever cares about their life and death, that is the real fate, and the real slaves."

Zhu Youjian said again: "But the first-class citizens can't fall into corruption and enjoy themselves too much because of this. As the governor, you have to ensure the superiority of these first-class citizens as the upper class. Everyone is useful. The government should take appropriate compulsory measures for training. For those who are lazy, they might as well lower their citizenship levels. Low-level citizens can also select a small number of outstanding talents or talents who have made outstanding contributions to Ming Dynasty to increase their citizen treatment levels. We need to be a little tighter, but we can’t do without, we must give them hope of rising in order to stabilize society.”

"I understand that the first-class citizens are the interests of the core class of our Ming Dynasty. They are all my compatriots. I will never sit back and watch them degenerate. In recent years, most of them have gone to Japan, but I have issued an order. , First-class citizens in Henan under the age of 25 are not allowed to go east to Dongying for sex. Even the cabinet has said that this is a selfish move by the ministers who don't want taxes to flow out, and it is a closed policy."

Chen Zhenhui said.

"You are right. As a local governor, it is right to have different opinions according to local conditions. Recently, I am also considering increasing local autonomy. Everything must be controlled by the cabinet. First, it is easy to make the cabinet bigger. Second, Low administrative efficiency It often takes a long time for a policy to be approved by the cabinet before it can be implemented. The economic conditions of various places are different, and the cabinet cannot cover everything. Local autonomy can be more practical; third, corruption is not easy to breed, and local officials do not have to To cater to central officials in order to get promoted or keep their official positions, they sacrifice too much local interests, but they cannot allow too much local power, at least military power cannot be released.”

After Zhu Youjian said this, Chen Zhenhui also replied:
"The weight of the county guards in the Han and Tang Dynasties is why the local governments in the Han and Tang Dynasties do not have to rely on the central government to live their lives. The officials are clean and the people are harmonious, but it is also easy to cause the princes to split. Since the Song Dynasty, the local powers have been divided. In my Ming Dynasty, the three powers were separated. Although The local government cannot compete with the central government, but it is also difficult to coordinate the local government, at least whenever there is a great chaos and it is difficult to calm down, a governor has to be appointed to control it. Today, His Majesty wants to strengthen the autonomy of the local government, and I think it is the good governance of the old days."

"It's not important whether it's retro or not, what's important is that the government is well-organized and the people are harmonious. It is definitely difficult to centralize power in a politically unified central empire. Even if it can be done, it will be exhausting, and in the end it tends to be more conservative and stable;

It seems more reasonable to practice local autonomy and central coordination if the culture is unified;
There may be a strong person who prefers to stand alone, and even prefers to think hard. It may be better for the country to be in chaos, but now that the world is peaceful, such a person can only make the empire fall into the hypocrisy of flattery;

So at least in the hundreds of years after the Ming Dynasty, the emperor can only have one;
If hundreds of years later, social conflicts intensify again and a strongman is needed, it will only be a matter of the future, but now I want to make this country realize that even if the emperor is in a state of incompetence, the ceremony will not be ruined;
My Ming Dynasty has this foundation. As long as I am willing, it can be realized. First-class citizens are free, and they can even decide who their parents and officials are. There are no officials in the local government, only pragmatic officials, and there is no chaos in the central government. world. "

When Zhu Youjian said this, Chen Zhenhui remained silent. He didn't quite understand what scene His Majesty was describing, but he knew that His Majesty didn't want the tragedy of Chongzhen's 17 years to happen again on this ancient land.

At that time, Henan was still full of starvation, Tartars, bandits, and bandits were rampant, and human life was as cheap as grass. The root cause was the greed of the imperial rulers, which led to the people's desperation.

"Now, His Majesty wants to limit the people of the ruling class to a red line that can be exploited and cannot be exploited."

Chen Zhenhui thought so.

(End of this chapter)