Chapter 261: Familiar Style

"Herding sheep?"

A few people fell into thought after listening, Li Chengqian hesitated, saying: "Brother Zi An, you mean... to treat the County Magistrates everywhere as sheep to herd."

"The so‑called pasture is profit, just enough for a portion of the County Magistrates to eat, and the so‑called slow runners refer to those County Magistrates who perform poorly, right?"

Li Lizhi lifted her eyes, "Then what profit should be used to tempt the County Magistrates everywhere? So that they will race desperately?"

Li Shimin and his spouse did not speak at once, but carefully considered Chen Yan's words; they felt what Chen Yan said was not that easy.

Herding sheep is simple; herding County Magistrates is not simple.

It cannot be summed up by a casual story.

"Don't overcomplicate things," Chen Yan smiled, "If you want to herd County Magistrates like sheep, you must prepare several layers at once: under the drive of profit, you must give them a sense of crisis, and you also need someone to supervise and spur them."

"Only then can you stir their ambition, rather than letting them hide in their own territories, feasting and waiting for death, relying on the saying 'the sky is high and the emperor is far.'"

"The sky is high and the emperor is far..." Li Shimin's forehead was covered with dark lines; the kid was speaking the truth, but sometimes it was indeed quite unappealing.

But Li Shimin said nothing; after all, even Weinan County near Chang'an could have such incidents—who knows what the situation is in farther places?

If you don't go and see it yourself, you cannot fully understand the filth inside.

"Could you elaborate?" Li Chengqian asked.

He liked this feeling: they posed a problem, and Chen Yan solved it in a few words.

Each time it gave him a sudden enlightenment.

It was extremely addictive.

Even the Crown Princess, Li Lizhi, Gao Yang and others who were uninterested in official matters liked to hear Chen Yan explain slowly.

Chen Yan looked around, thought for a moment, and said: "Elaborating is certainly no problem; we have plenty of time today, so let's speak slowly."

"What I just said about herding sheep, you may each have your own insights, but perhaps not many understand it; it sounds a bit unclear."

"Let's start with the first point: first take up the whip and spur officials everywhere. Okay, some of you may now ask, how to spur them?"

He first posed the question, then spoke at length, "Actually it's simple: in life, entering the court as an official, what one seeks is nothing but fame and profit."

"To spur officials everywhere, you must of course use what they care about to spur them, forcing them to strive upward."

"His Majesty can issue an order requiring officials everywhere to report what they have done this year—for example, how much tax was collected, whether it was fully collected, whether the regional population grew and by how much, how many theft cases occurred, whether disaster response was appropriate—so that they produce a detailed statistical summary of the whole year."

"Then place all the County Magistrates' summaries together for comparison; it will be easy to see who is diligently fulfilling duties and who is just loafing and waiting for death."

"Finally turn these statistics into a ranking, post it for all the people of the world to see; those who performed well enjoy the praise of all, those who performed poorly meet ruin and disgrace."

"This is the whip!"

After hearing this, everyone except Li Shimin fell silent together.

It's not that Chen Yan's method is useless; it's just that his method is too effective, but too harsh, too poisonous.

To threaten ruin and disgrace at the slightest move—who can endure that?

Displaying a county's yearly statistics to the world makes it clear at a glance who performed well and who did not.

County Magistrates at the bottom of the list will inevitably face the world's scorn and contempt; this is forcing people to death.

"Good, what a whip!" Li Shimin praised, "Using fame as the whip, forcing County Magistrates everywhere to have no choice but to fulfill their duties; if they cheat, the only thing awaiting them is ruin and disgrace."

"This plan is marvelous!"

He asked brightly, "Then what about the profit of the so‑called pasture?"

"The profit, of course, is the reward for good officials," Chen Yan continued, "First, promotion; second, wealth. It must be given, and given heavily, in front of everyone, so that all know that effort does have results; as long as they work well, His Majesty will certainly not treat them poorly."

"Of course, as I said before, the pasture shouldn't be too large—just enough for a small portion of the sheep to eat. That way, everyone will work harder, right?"

Li Shimin and his spouse nodded in understanding.

In short, it is to coerce with fame and entice with profit.

A very familiar tactic; it's Chen Yan's style.

"Back then, didn't he force major official families to donate money using the Merit Monument?"

The effect was outstanding.

Today's assessment method has a similar brilliance; it is a naked open strategy, simply forcing them to work hard.

"Also," Chen Yan added, "This reward is best taken from the county they each manage; for example, the grant should come from a tiny portion of the local tax revenue, then split that tiny portion into several parts and set a target. If the tax collection meets the target, they receive one part; if the county's annual crime count does not exceed a standard, they receive another part; if population growth reaches a standard, they receive yet another part."

"At the same time, to prevent County Magistrates from exploiting loopholes or using illegal means, a supervisor is very necessary."

"And this supervisor must also write an annual summary each year, to compare with the summary the County Magistrate submits, to prevent them from fabricating or filling in false data."

"Profit binding!" Li Chengqian suddenly exclaimed, his eyes showing inexpressible admiration.

"Indeed, it's profit binding," Empress Changsun also exclaimed.

"Binding the County Magistrates' profit to their local county, then if they want more profit they must work hard at their duties; with fame and profit driving and coercing them, one link after another, they cannot simply loaf and wait for death."

"It truly is treating the County Magistrates everywhere as sheep to herd..."

"Hmph! Then we must treat them as sheep to herd!" Li Shimin sneered, "I will make them know, what does 'the sky is high and the emperor is far' even matter?"

"I have plenty of ways to deal with them!"

"But... there seem to be many difficulties and loopholes..." Crown Princess Su whispered.

"Empress's sister-in-law is right," Li Lizhi agreed, "For example, what if the supervisor is bribed? He could also falsify the annual summary, and the conditions of each county vary—some are prosperous, some impoverished; some have large populations, some small—how can we treat them all the same?"

"We can't compare the achievements of a prosperous region with those of a poor one, can we?"

"That would be biased."

Li Shimin and Li Chengqian immediately turned to look at Chen Yan, while the others, realizing late, also cast their gazes there.

Chen Yan: "......"

"......"