Chapter 783: Must Learn to Correctly Utilize the Senior Grand Secretary

The Great Ming state is currently undergoing new species domestication, from the domestication of livestock like rice, cattle, and sheep, to the domestication of microorganisms.

"The medical students at the Medical College have never been able to figure out one problem: why these bacterial colonies live perfectly fine in the wild, but once they are kept in captivity, they die just to show them if there is the slightest carelessness. I've been to the Medical College several times, and the medical students are wailing in despair," Yao Guangqi said, bringing up some interesting anecdotes about raising bacteria.

Shen Shiying raised an eyebrow: "Oh?"

Yao Guangqi wanted to laugh when he recalled the painful expressions of those medical students. He shook his head and said: "Bacterial colonies can survive anywhere outside of a petri dish. You cultivate them meticulously, with the best sugar, the most suitable temperature, and the most suitable humidity, yet they just won't grow."

"It really is like the sky is falling."

Bacterial colonies outside: My fate is determined by myself, not by Heaven!

Bacterial colonies in the laboratory: Today, if you open the door with your left hand, I will die just to show you.

It made the medical students act superstitious all day long, with all sorts of strange rules: open the door with the right hand, enter the door with the left foot, no loud talking, a firm belief that good things come in pairs—never use odd numbers—and talismans for double blessings begged from temples pasted onto the incubators.

There were even medical students who would mutter prayers to the bacterial colonies, more devoutly than if they were worshipping Buddha.

But these bacterial colonies still died just the same.

"Finally, it is not just the North blooming alone." Shen Shiying looked at everything in the bacteria manufacturing plant and said quite contentedly.

Great Ming has a North-South competition. The Wanli Reform was launched from the Northern Yamen, and for fifteen years, almost all technology was transported from the Northern Yamen to the Southern Yamen. But now, Songjiang Prefecture has its own leading microbial domestication project.

Benefiting from Songjiang Prefecture's unique maritime trade advantages, coupled with a massive investment of silver, the progress of microbial domestication at the Shanghai University of Science and Technology's Medical College is even faster than that of the Dissection Institute in the capital.

After all, the Great Medical Officials of the Northern Yamen cannot run to Songjiang Prefecture to scrape mud from the soles of shoes to bring back to the Northern Yamen for research.

"It is all the exquisite craftsmanship of Great Ming." Shen Shiying thought for a moment and added another sentence. The North and South can vie, can have differences, can compete, and can even be in opposition, but they must be a unity of opposites.

Great Ming is a unified dynasty, a single game of chess. Only by correctly handling the contradictions between the central government and the localities can one handle the contradictions between immediate and long-term interests, and handle the contradictions of interests between the state, various collectives, and individuals.

Upon hearing this, Yao Guangqi pondered for a while, then nodded in agreement: "The Governor's words are reasonable."

"Has the matter of the Bliss Sect been handled clearly?" Shen Shiying asked about the previous disposal of the Bliss Sect.

After Yao Guangqi reported the situation one by one, he frowned and said: "It was Japanese comprador merchants who spread the Bliss Sect. They were originally compradors for Great Ming goods, and in order to trick people onto ships, they artificially and deliberately created this Bliss Sect to stir up public opinion."

"The Nagasaki Governor's Office probably has no good way to deal with it."

If this were public opinion deliberately manufactured by Great Ming that ended up backfiring on Great Ming, it would count as being hit by a boomerang.

But the problem is, this Bliss Sect was not created by Great Ming people, because Great Ming merchants generally do not have that kind of thinking. Even if they were to spread something, they would be willing to spread some Buddhist studies, Daoist studies, or beliefs like Mazu.

Great Ming people themselves are not particularly accepting of this kind of doctrine that looks a bit insane at first glance.

Soul-calling sorcery sells anxiety and fear, while the doctrine of the Bliss Sect is the insane absolute indulgence.

Upon hearing this, Shen Shiying sighed with emotion and said: "In this case, if the Japanese spread it themselves, Great Ming really has no way to deal with it."

For an endogenous cultural stubborn illness, there is no hope in relying on Great Ming's scalpel. Endogenous problems need to be looked at from the inside to find the cause and solution. Blindly pinning the problem on Great Ming cannot solve the problem.

Great Ming is good at finding reasons within itself, such as the invasion of Anda Khan, such as the invasion of the Japanese pirates. Great Ming first found the problems within itself and then went to solve them.

"A case recently appeared in Shanghai County, and this subordinate feels it is very necessary for the Governor to know." Yao Guangqi said with a solemn expression: "A scholar starved to death in Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture."

"A scholar, starved to death in Shanghai..." Shen Shiying's expression gradually became surprised, and he frowned as he looked at Yao Guangqi. This was an extraordinary matter.

According to the house-cockroach theory, if one cockroach is found in a house, then there are one thousand cockroaches in this house.

In fact, it means that behind every huge, serious accident, there must be more than thirty minor accidents, as well as three hundred invisible accidents that have not yet occurred but already have signs, and one thousand accident hazards lurking.

This is the methodology proposed by Wang Jiaping. Wang Jiaping found one cockroach in the Governor's Office of Guangzhou Prefecture, and then found thousands of cockroaches.

This methodology has been recognized by His Majesty. When Great Ming bureaucrats deal with problems, they must absolutely not only see the surface, otherwise they will definitely press the gourd and let the ladle float. They must deeply excavate the deep-seated reasons behind the surface, discover early, intervene early, and solve early to prevent the problem from further expanding.

After all, if the problem is blown up to the point of disturbing the Sage's hearing, even if one is not dismissed, one will be labeled as incompetent in the Emperor's heart, making it very difficult to be promoted.

Some situations are relatively exceptional. Because of some irresistible factors that lead to major events, His Majesty will also open the net, demoting the official by three ranks.

The case of Li Hongdao in Taizhou Prefecture, Zhejiang, indulging the gentry to form a returning-home bandit group, is a typical example. This was the resistance caused by the Emperor's insistence on pushing the Returning Land Decree, which cannot be blamed on Shen Shiying; he was also implicated.

For the returning-home bandit group, one must take heavy measures and deal with them ruthlessly. Otherwise, when the time comes and the land return in Zhejiang has not been settled, and there are civil riots everywhere, the land return cannot be completed.

This is also the reason why Shen Shiying has stayed in Taizhou Prefecture for so long. He wants to clear out the poisonous influence, investigate the hidden dangers, and disband the returning-home bandit groups formed in other places, or simply send them to the Ningbo Maritime Trade Office and send them to Tamsui Town, Keelung Island, to cut wood.

"This person's name is Sun Shangli, thirty-seven years old this year, all alone by himself. He passed the provincial examination in Jiangxi in the first year of Wanli." Yao Guangqi spoke about this person's situation. Not only was he a scholar, but he was also a provincial graduate.

"As a provincial graduate, how did he starve himself to death?!" Shen Shiying was even more surprised. Provincial graduates are officials selected by officials. If they cannot pass the metropolitan examination, they can pick and choose the county instructors in various county offices. At the very least, being a teacher would not lead to starvation.

Shen Shiying pondered and asked: "Is it because he was very clean and honest?"

Yao Guangqi waved his hands repeatedly: "That's not it. He was actually not picky at all. Whoever gave him money, he would write articles for them. His posture was quite flexible."

After Sun Shangli passed the provincial examination in Jiangxi, he went to the capital to take the examination, but he did not pass the metropolitan examination. After returning to his hometown, no one entrusted their land to his name, because there were many metropolitan and provincial graduates in Jiangxi. These clan forces were extremely huge and had long since completed land annexation. Every family's land had an owner.

In order to pass the provincial examination, Sun Shangli's parents sold their ancestral home and ancestral property in their hometown and sent Sun Shangli to Songjiang Prefecture to worship a famous teacher.

Less than five years later, Sun Shangli cut off contact with his family.

"Sun Shangli's parents wrote more than a dozen letters and entrusted them to fellow merchants to bring to Sun Shangli, but when we were investigating, we found that Sun Shangli did not open his parents' letters. The wax seals on the letters were intact." Yao Guangqi let out a turbid breath, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

"Unfilial!" Shen Shiying flicked his sleeves and asked suspiciously: "Why didn't he open his parents' letters? Why didn't he associate with his parents? Could it be that he listened to the incitement of that Bliss Sect? That shouldn't be; at that time, there was no Bliss Sect even in Japan."

The Bliss Sect was only discovered by the Nagasaki Governor's Office in the fourth month of the fourteenth year of Wanli. Because it involved the great matter of destroying the Japanese through the trade of Japanese slaves and Japanese women, the Nagasaki Governor's Office did not deal with it much.

The Bliss Sect is an evil spirit based on the comparison of values and the supremacy of pleasure. Its first doctrine is to sever all relationships that can be severed, being extremely selfish. I am just me, and cutting ties with parents is part of the doctrine.

This point of view of the Bliss Sect is very terrifying. It believes that all the suffering one experiences is the fault of the parents, because the parents are not rich enough, because the parents' status is not noble enough, because the parents have not accumulated enough wealth, because the parents are shallow in their knowledge. All the suffering experienced is the fault of the parents.

"It is not the influence of the Bliss Sect. It is that he married twice in Shanghai County, and his family property was cheated away twice..." Yao Guangqi told the past of this person.

He passed the provincial examination at twenty-three and went to Songjiang Prefecture to study. It has been fourteen years, and thirty-seven-year-old Kong Shangli has experienced two failed marriages.

When he was young and frivolous, he felt that he would definitely pass the metropolitan examination. The money exchanged by his parents selling all their ancestral property was all used by Kong Shangli for socializing.

No matter where you are, socializing costs money, and the price is not cheap. Outfits, servants, and fancy carriages all need to be prepared.

Otherwise, when you go to participate in a poetry gathering, others are in silk and satin, and you are in plain clothes, everyone will look down on you.

Sun Shangli socialized for several months and finally met a pretty lady on a painted boat on the Huangpujiang. After going back and forth, he was so fascinated that he insisted on marrying her.

Shen Shiying sorted it out seriously and shook his head repeatedly: "Has he gone muddled? He took a courtesan that a merchant had finished playing with and treated her like a treasure to marry home? Is it so easy to pass the provincial examination in Jiangxi? Others are just playing around, and he is taking it for real?"

"Doesn't that make him a laughingstock?"

"At that time, that courtesan was a celebrity on the entire Huangpujiang, and everyone supported her. Sun Shangli felt that as long as he married a celebrity, he would have squeezed into the scholars of Songjiang Prefecture." Yao Guangqi explained why Sun Shangli wanted to do this.

Marrying this pretty lady was for the sake of socializing.

Sometimes, some circles are exceptionally exclusive. It is not so easy for Sun Shangli to squeeze in.

After Sun Shangli married this famous figure, at first they were still respectful to each other, but this pretty lady soon discovered that Sun Shangli was just putting on a brave face, playing hard without money, and immediately had other thoughts.

Soon, she cheated all of Sun Shangli's remaining money into her hands and left.

At that time, the status of lowly slaves had not yet been abolished. Relying on Sun Shangli's status as a provincial graduate, this pretty lady got rid of her courtesan status in one fell swoop, went to the Southern Yamen, and never had any news again.

Yao Guangqi continued: "After Sun Shangli's parents found out, they sent another three hundred taels of silver to Sun Shangli. Sun Shangli has a younger brother named Sun Shangde who does not like to sit and study, but likes to do some business, and Sun Shangli has a younger sister whose abacus is very good. The brother and sister worked together to do business and made a lot of money."

"This silver was given by his younger brother, and the brother and sister even bought back the old house and ancestral property."

"Since then, Sun Shangli no longer socialized and began to study wholeheartedly. As a result, he still did not pass the metropolitan examination in the next test. Men should marry when they grow up, and women should marry when they grow up. With the support of his younger brother and sister, Sun Shangli married a second wife, but this life was bumpy."

"Sun Shangli was just a poor scholar who cared a lot about face. He relied on writing articles for others to make a living, and it was difficult even to support himself. After having a wife, life became increasingly impoverished. When the second wife saw that if this continued, she and her son would starve to death, she took her son back to her maiden home and never came back."

Shen Shiying asked: "He is a provincial graduate. If he goes to the county office, even if he cannot be an official in the stream, being a clerk out of the stream would be enough to support his family."

"He married a prostitute the first time he brought her home, so no office dared to want him." Yao Guangqi explained the reason.

Shen Shiying was the top scholar in the forty-first year of Jiajing. In his early years, Shen Shiying's surname was Xu, and he grew up in his uncle's house. He only changed his surname to Shen after becoming the top scholar.

If it weren't for his natural intelligence, he wouldn't even be able to afford tuition. He was able to study because he was a genius. Later, he worshipped Zhang Juzheng as his teacher, which was even smoother. All the stumbles he took in his life were planted on Yan Shixuan.

This was a stumble of being demoted by three ranks twice in a row. He ate this stumble hard.

Shen Shiying does not understand the ecology of provincial graduates. The reputation of a provincial graduate is very important. If you marry a prostitute and pass the metropolitan examination, it is an elegant affair. If you do not pass the metropolitan examination, it seems too frivolous.

The office also has to consider whether this person will implicate the entire office.

"So that's how it is. You continue." Shen Shiying understood. It turned out to be a field he did not understand, and he could not understand it. He only served as a provincial graduate for one year in total, and the second year he was the top scholar.

Yao Guangqi then continued: "Sun Shangli relied on writing articles for others to make a living, and life became increasingly difficult. He cut off contact with his family. His younger brother and sister came to Songjiang Prefecture four times to find him, but they did not find him. They only knew from fellow villagers that he was still alive."

"Later, he got into trouble writing articles. He accepted money from Japanese merchants and spoke up for Japanese merchants. Since then, no magazine dared to let him write articles."

Ever since His Majesty personally killed Chen Youren, who wrote "The Eastern Expedition," on the street, no magazine in the world dared to talk nonsense about Japanese matters, because His Majesty would really go crazy.

His Majesty has been on the throne for fifteen years, and this is the most outrageous thing. For things like beautifying the invasion of Japanese pirates, Chen Youren also deserved his crime.

It is correct for the office not to accept Sun Shangli. If this guy were a person in the office and wrote this kind of article, His Majesty would think that Songjiang Prefecture was not loyal, and everyone from the Governor to the yamen runners would probably be dismissed.

Sun Shangli's articles, although not as serious as beautifying the invasion of Japanese pirates, always accepted silver from Japanese merchants and wrote some articles about good-neighborly friendship. It was probably that set of narratives about being gentle to people from afar, letting go of hatred, letting go of prejudice, opening up ship permits to Japan, and lifting the special trade ban on Japan.

This set of narratives is no problem and stands on its own feet, but it just cannot be used on Japanese pirates.

Ever since the Japanese pirates invaded Korea, the Emperor issued an edict to arrest all Japanese merchants and behead them in public, Sun Shangli lost his source of livelihood and lived by writing ghostwritten letters and copying books on the street.

In this way, for two years, he starved to death in a rented house in the suburbs.

"He can read and write; he wouldn't starve to death by copying books for others." Shen Shiying said with a solemn expression: "If he was really starving, running to the gate of the county office would still get him a meal."

"If a provincial graduate starved to death in front of the Shanghai County Office, I don't know how the censors in the capital would scold Magistrate Yao."

Yao Guangqi shook his head and said: "After the soul-calling case broke out last year, Sun Shangli was afraid, so he used his few remaining savings to buy magic tools to ward off evil spirits, fearing that he would be cursed to death."

"And at that time, the price of magic tools to ward off evil spirits was rising all the way. He felt that holding them was making money. As a result, the magic tools changed quickly. The magic tool he held could no longer ward off evil spirits. The big monk said it was invalid and needed to be bought again."

"Since last year, he has been hungry one meal and full another. In three or five months, he slowly starved to death."

"It takes a long time for a person to starve to death. This is also why when disaster relief is provided, the porridge shed can fill the stomach at the beginning, but it will slowly decrease. If people are not slowly starved to death, these refugees will break through the prefecture and county offices."

It is a very difficult thing for people to starve to death, especially in a place like Songjiang Prefecture, Great Ming, which is already a commodity economy.

As far as rice is concerned, you can eat it in different ways: Huguang rice, Jiangxi rice, Shandong rice, Champa rice, and even Liaodong rice.

"So, Sun Shangli's starvation is an accidental event?" Shen Shiying breathed a sigh of relief. As long as there are not one thousand cockroaches in the house, it is fine.

Yao Guangqi took a memorial out of his sleeve and said: "It is accidental, but it is also not accidental."

Shen Shiying opened it and looked at it for a long time. The content of Yao Guangqi's memorial was very interesting. It talked about the intercommunication of degrees, using numbers to describe the growth rate of prices of necessary and non-necessary commodities in Songjiang Prefecture over fifteen years.

Necessary commodities cover the prices of various commodities for clothing, food, housing, and transportation, and they are all based on low prices, such as Huguang rice, local rice vinegar, homemade yellow wine, Songjiang cotton cloth, and other cheap commodities.

Shanxi aged vinegar, Champa fragrant rice, Shanxi millet, wool, silk, etc., which are sold very expensively in Songjiang Prefecture, are classified as non-necessary commodities, or improvement commodities.

Subtract the base price from the current price of each commodity, divide by the base price, and multiply by the weight to get the price change index of the commodity. Add up all the necessary commodity indices and multiply by 100% to finally get a necessary commodity price increase rate.

Yao Guangqi obtained two indices in total: one is the necessary commodity price increase rate of 7%; the other is the non-necessary commodity price increase rate of 50%;

"Because this is the first time to calculate this number, this 7% means that necessary commodities have increased by 7% in fifteen years. Compared with last year, this number is 0.4%, which means that the price of necessary commodities is very stable, while the price of non-necessary commodities has risen very fast." Yao Guangqi hurriedly explained this problem.

It looks very high because the base price is low, which was the price fifteen years ago. At that time, Songjiang Prefecture had not yet opened the sea. Let alone commodity economy, even small-scale peasant economy was precarious. Commodities were not sufficient, and commodity prices were high.

"Because the Seaweed King told me to pay more attention to the changes in the prices of necessary commodities, because the majority of the people will choose necessary commodities in most cases." Shen Shiying used a vermilion brush to underline this sentence.

Yao Guangqi's reason is too simple. The only thing that can overthrow the Great Ming state is the people. Great Ming does not have the stage for the rebellion of powerful families and local gentry.

This is a cruel reality. Powerful families can take away the Great Ming Emperor and change the government's decrees through assassination, poisoning, burning the palace with a big fire, falling into the water, etc., but they cannot rebel.

Zhu Yijun has protected himself very well. He has moved to the Tonghe Palace. In this eighty-mu place, he can still keep an eye on it.

"This Bliss Sect." Zhu Yijun looked at Yao Guangqi's memorial and said: "These Japanese comprador merchants have gone a bit too far."

Feng Bao bowed and said: "Your Majesty, as long as the Japanese are transported to Nagasaki, they are all silver. Japan does not have enough silver to pay, so they can only use people to pay."

The Japanese comprador running dogs also have something to say: Great Ming has so many goods, wanting everything and buying everything. Without enough silver, they have to cheat and use Japanese people to pay. If the Great Ming Emperor feels that there is no morality, he can subsidize the supply.

Subsidies are impossible. They can only let the Japanese comprador merchants continue to toss the Japanese people.

The prevalence of the Bliss Sect in Japan is actually the overall collapse and disintegration of the already fragile moral value concepts of the Japanese people.

The process of a person's degeneration is much more comfortable than struggling. Once morality collapses, the whole of Japan loses its ability to resist religion.

"Li Shunchen said that Great Ming has a high-moral disadvantage in the process of colonization. I can only admit that he is right." Zhu Yijun gave a vermilion approval to Yao Guangqi's memorial.

Severely crack down on the spread of the Bliss Sect in Great Ming, starting from the source. Any Japanese woman who has the word "Ming" burned on her feet and has a tendency toward the Bliss Sect will be sent to Luzon on the grounds of not being devout enough.

The next morning, the morning sun in the fifth month was bright, and the Great Ming court officials were looking at each other in the side hall of the Wenhua Hall.

His Majesty sent an imperial edict from the Tonghe Palace: His Majesty wants to sleep in, and he will not come today. The ministers can decide for themselves.

This immediately made the ministers unable to figure it out.

Since the first year of Wanli, this is the first time His Majesty has been absent from the court session without cause. Should this meeting still be held? If a resolution is formed, without His Majesty's approval, then has this government decree passed or not?

The Emperor's slacking off brought a huge administrative decision-making challenge to the court officials.

It's back, the familiar taste is back! The feeling of the Emperor being nowhere to be found all day long in the late Jiajing and Longqing years is back!

Hai Rui's brows were almost twisted into a knot, and he said in horror: "Senior Grand Secretary, what should be done about this?"

"I have a pile of things on hand waiting for His Majesty's vermilion approval. This, this, this, His Majesty is not here, how should I deal with it?" Wang Guoguang sighed heavily. Having become accustomed to high efficiency, he really was not used to this low efficiency.

The resolution of the meeting must be sent to the palace to be stamped before it can be pushed forward. When will His Majesty stamp it? When will the official documents flow downward?

"Don't ask me, I don't know either. Your Ministry of Revenue's mouths should be tighter. Can His Majesty not come? The Minister of Revenue thinks it's slow, and I think it's slow too. Why don't you go find His Majesty?" Zhang Juzheng spread his hands, indicating that he was powerless to help.

His Majesty was absent from the regular court session without cause. Zhang Juzheng naturally knew His Majesty's intentions very well, and he was not very anxious. It was a small matter. His Majesty had been busy for so many years, and it was excellent to take a break.

The donkey in the mill was scolding too ugly.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng believed that the Wanli Reform had entered a stable period. In fact, this regular court session could be held every other day, or even every few days, which would save His Majesty's enthusiasm. It was impossible to overcome the difficulty of ending well. They were all things of intrigue, and His Majesty was tired of seeing too much.

Wang Guoguang said loudly: "His Majesty issued an edict to the Ministry of Revenue. There are so many people in the Ministry of Revenue, and they have to discuss it. It is impossible not to spread it. This is not a question of whether the mouth is tight or not."

Not everyone in the Ministry of Revenue has a big mouth, but as long as one person says it to the outside, the news will spread. And since His Majesty issued an edict to the Ministry of Revenue, isn't it just to make the news public?

"Alright, let's have the court session first. After the court session, the Junior Grand Secretary will go to the Tonghe Palace with me." Zhang Juzheng thought it over and decided that it was better for him to come forward to give His Majesty a step down.

Zhang Juzheng was giving the Emperor a step down. Fooling around, doing what should be done. Xu Jue had already spread the news from the palace yesterday. The memorials were still being reviewed normally and would be sent to the cabinet the day after tomorrow. The Great Ming administrative system was still operating efficiently.

The Emperor getting angry, isn't it also a reason for Zhang Juzheng to lose his temper?

Zhang Juzheng took a deep breath and said: "From today on, the Official Selection Law will be piloted in the Ministry of Revenue."

"There are three hundred and eighty audit clerks in the Ministry of Revenue. We will conduct an assessment of the past account efficiency and error frequency of all clerks, select one hundred and fifty of the best, and send them to the University of Science and Technology for commissioned training."

"Three clerks who voluntarily join the Ministry of Revenue audit will begin the clerk assessment from today. After two years, if they are rated as superior, they will enter the Yilun Hall and ask His Majesty to specially grant them the status of metropolitan graduate and official status to enter the government."

"I am going to the Tonghe Palace to invite His Majesty. I must bring something to make His Majesty happy before I can invite His Majesty out. Whoever does not agree, go to the Tonghe Palace to invite His Majesty yourself."

The angle of Zhang Juzheng's temper was not to make things difficult for Great Ming bureaucrats. The assessment law and the four assessments were already absolute high pressure. His angle of temper was to push the government decree, first piloting it in the Ministry of Revenue, where the audit pressure of the Ministry of Revenue was the greatest.

Three clerks who voluntarily joined the Ministry of Revenue to do audits, in the case of unclear prospects, still gave up the high salary of the folk workshops. They were righteous men of loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and courage. Even if the assessment was slightly worse, for the purpose of buying horse bones with a thousand gold, they must be specially granted the status of metropolitan graduate.

This is the competition for talent between the imperial court and the people.

Wang Chonggu pondered for a while, his expression changed, and he said: "Senior Grand Secretary, your method is a bit wrong. His Majesty said it was the students who graduated from the Nine Dragon University. You are directly sending clerks to the University for commissioned training?"

Many audit clerks in the Ministry of Revenue have no fame at all. They are just accountants who know how to calculate. A large part of the reason why they entered the Ministry of Revenue as clerks is that they could not mix outside. Not everyone is willing to take the risk of being audited by the tax-checking Embroidered Uniform Guard to do accounts for powerful families.

This is really a pheasant turning into a phoenix.

After they have undergone systematic training at the University, they will have the fame of a scholar. As long as they perform well, official status is right before their eyes.

The thoroughfare is right under their feet.

"The Ministry of Revenue has an urgent need." Zhang Juzheng narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice: "Junior Grand Secretary Wang, it is of great benefit to the country and the society. You are right, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes, yes, you are right!" Wang Chonggu waved his hands repeatedly. His son caused this matter, and he did not dare to say a word of no.

The Senior Grand Secretary and the Junior Grand Secretary were answering quickly, and they were even a bit confused. The words were not clear at all. Li Youzi, the Right Censor-in-Chief, asked with a confused face: "Is there any difference?"

"Censor-in-Chief Li... the difference is huge." Hai Rui saw that several court officials were still confused, so he said: "The Senior Grand Secretary let the clerks be commissioned for training, which is to completely separate officials and clerks. Which office does not have more clerks than officials? Which office does not rely on clerks to do things?"

"The officials in these offices can only agree."

Officials are administrative officials, mainly grasping the direction;

Clerks are also officials, mainly administrative officials, and those who do specific things are them.

Selecting the best clerks for commissioned training and entering the University to obtain the status of metropolitan graduate is the content of the third volume of the class theory, using the game between classes to push the government decree.

If officials oppose it, it is to cut off the thoroughfare of the clerks. If the clerks don't say it on their lips, what will they think in their hearts?

If they really run here to force the palace, His Majesty will truly kill.

The Decree of Extending Favor is to weaken the vassal states, so that the heirs of the conferred titles have the power of inheritance, greatly reducing the strength of each prince's mansion, so they cannot form a threat to the imperial court.

Although this method will be opposed by the eldest son, other brothers who cannot get the fief will sincerely thank the Emperor for his holy virtue!

If the eldest son wants to oppose the government decree, he must first clean up his brothers.

And now, Zhang Juzheng has used this trick, turning it into clerks entering the University for commissioned training, obtaining the status of metropolitan graduate, and stepping into the officialdom.