Chapter 352: My Donglin Faction

Most of the people present began breathing rapidly!

When His Highness the Crown Prince plundered, his hand did not soften; when he shared out the spoils, his hand did not tremble — a truly grand gesture! Not to mention the Chongzhen Emperor, even if Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang came back, he could not compare!

Truly an emperor for all ages!

Of course, the wool comes off the pig's back. Behind Songjiang Prefecture putting out six hundred thousand taels a year to pay and enrich its officials, the rents lost by the military-register and civilian-register gentry and merchants of Songjiang amount to at least one and a half million shi! And the additional commercial taxes come to at least three hundred thousand taels — Songjiang cotton cloth is sold throughout the realm, and the wealth of its loom-house owners and rich merchants is no less than that of the Suzhou silk merchants, yet in the past the court could collect hardly any taxes from them; from now on, they will have no choice but to pay!

Moreover, the annual revenue of the Shanghai port and customs station established on the territory of Songjiang and Suzhou Prefectures is an astronomical figure!

Although the gentry and merchants of Songjiang will generally lose money, a small portion of them — roughly between several hundred and a thousand people — will thereby obtain an official rank and a generous salary, and henceforth live the happy life of claws and teeth of the court. With them on the ground in Songjiang leading the way and maintaining order, it will be very difficult for the other gentry and merchants to make trouble.

Zhu Cilang smiled and continued: "Gentlemen, once the court has money, high salaries to foster integrity will naturally follow, and obtaining office will also become much easier. To be a civil official, one need no longer be a jinshi or juren. Clerks may become officials; those with a special skill may become officials; those of outstanding local reputation may also become officials. As for the juren of a locality, so long as they are willing to serve, they may all be appointed to minor posts in their own districts! A minor post is only the beginning; once one has entered official service, regardless of origin, one may be promoted according to merit in affairs, military merit, and years of service. A jinshi background merely means a higher starting point in office, with an initial appointment somewhat higher than that of a juren.

In addition, great landowners who actively cooperate with the land survey and the military-farm survey, and wealthy merchants who pay large amounts of commercial and customs taxes, may be allowed to recommend renowned scholars to Nanjing to serve as deliberative officials.

We see that all of you are learned scholars of vast erudition and men of outstanding insight. If you enter official service, you will surely all be good officials of our Great Ming! We hope that all of you, at this moment of national crisis, will come out of retirement and enter service, and contribute your strength to the Ming realm and to the common people of the world!"

Expanding the bureaucracy was already Zhu Cilang's established policy. Even if Luo Dagong had not proposed it, Zhu Cilang had intended, while pushing forward the land survey, military-farm survey, and commercial tax reform, to expand the ranks of officials who could actually get things done — the Ming bureaucracy was extremely large; the number of military officers in the guard-station system alone was frighteningly high. Yet there were very few officials who actually did real work, and even fewer who could do their work well while taking bribes. Therefore the Ming bureaucracy also needed a thorough overhaul! And the way to overhaul the bureaucracy was lenient entry and strict management — that is, first recruit officials in large numbers, and then weed out the bottom performers!

Recruit one batch and drive out another every year, keep it up for ten or eight years, and all of Great Ming's officials will be able to work "996" and will have howling wolf-like drive — by then the Tartars will have a bellyful to drink!

Of course, the precondition for making people work "996" and still howl with zeal is that the money must be paid in full. Talking about loyalty to the sovereign and love of country without paying is just hooliganism.

In addition, expanding the bureaucracy — especially increasing the number of officials who actually handle affairs — has another advantage: it makes it possible to dismiss all the local officials of a certain place, and then have neighboring or nearby prefectures send officials to take over that prefecture's administration. This is a form of collective punishment for the gentry of a place! It is to be used against gentry who incite large-scale resistance to taxes and rents (the land rents of official fields and military fields), while the local officials collectively do nothing.

In such a case, the local officials will all be dismissed, and the local literati will also be barred from taking the civil examinations — until they beg the court's pardon and pay compensation!

If another incident like "Ge Xian's tax resistance" occurs, the ones punished will not be merely the reckless fools who rush to the front as the first bird, but the literati and officials of the entire region!

But these rules need not be spelled out just yet.

Having finished his words of encouragement, Zhu Cilang shot a glance at Wei Zaode, who immediately took up the thread and said to the assembly with a smile: "Do any of you have objections to what His Highness the Crown Prince has said? If there are no objections, then our Donglin Faction will give its full support to the land survey, the military-farm survey, and the strict collection of commercial taxes!

Moreover, our Donglin Faction has in the past been too loose and unable to form a single body. Therefore today's assembly is to discuss with all of you how to make our Donglin Faction cohesive and united, and become a support for His Highness the Crown Prince in resisting the Tartars and defending the faith!"

This was to establish a Donglin political party belonging to Zhu Cilang!

"Chief Grand Secretary, what exactly do you want to turn the Donglin Faction into?"

The questioner was Ji Kun. He was in fact opposed to the Donglin reform, because a reformed Donglin would inevitably become a tool of imperial power, no longer the true Donglin — calling it a eunuch faction would perhaps be more fitting.

But now that he was being "put to important use" by Zhu Cilang, and was unwilling to resign his office, he could only steel himself and cooperate.

But when even the Seven Masters, who were supposed to be elected by the Donglin Assembly, could be fixed in advance, whether it was Donglin or a eunuch faction was in fact plain to see.

Wei Zaode said sternly: "All you gentlemen of Donglin should gather under the Donglin banner and become one body. To be one body, there must be a program and purpose, a hierarchy of superiors and inferiors, rules and regulations, and the ability to enforce orders and prohibitions.

The so-called program and purpose is, naturally, to protect Great Ming and protect the Confucian teaching. The world has undergone a strange transformation; it is not merely a transformation of our Great Ming, but a strange transformation of the Confucian teaching unprecedented since the creation of the world. All of us Donglin gentlemen have read the books of the sages to the full — how can we sit by with folded hands and not step forward?

The so-called hierarchy of superiors and inferiors is the establishment of a Nanjing general assembly and prefectural branch assemblies. The branch assemblies shall obey the general assembly, and the general assembly shall be jointly controlled by the Three Lords and Seven Masters. And the Three Lords and Seven Masters shall be publicly elected by the Donglin Assembly. With a hierarchy of superiors and inferiors, we can naturally formulate Donglin regulations, enforce orders and prohibitions, and punish violations. In the most serious cases, offenders shall be expelled from the rolls and denounced as the dregs of a eunuch faction!"

Excellent — with a program, an organization, party discipline, and a democratic-centralist decision-making mechanism, the Donglin Faction was beginning to look very much the part.

Of course, it only looked the part! This quasi-modern political party using the name of Donglin was in reality a tool for Zhu Cilang to control the discourse of the southeastern literati.

Because the Donglin Assembly used to elect the "Three Lords and Seven Masters" — the ten-man group leading the Donglin Faction — was entirely under Zhu Cilang's control, and only Zhu Cilang had the ability to convene such an assembly.

Moreover, the Donglin general assembly and branch assemblies required large amounts of funding to operate! And the only one who could provide the Donglin Faction's funding was, of course, Zhu Cilang.

Furthermore, most of the literati registered with Donglin were still there for the sake of office! Great Ming's official shop belongs to the house of Zhu, and it is firmly held in Zhu Cilang's hands.

If those people want office, they had better obediently do as Zhu Cilang says!

And once the Donglin Faction — the backbone of the southeastern literati — was brought under Zhu Cilang's control, the new laws and new policies that followed, and even Zhu Cilang's own "progress," would be easy to carry out.

Great Ming's southeast could now be considered basically in Zhu Cilang's grasp!

(End of Chapter)