Chapter 356: We Are All Reformers

Just as Zhu Cilang finished interviewing Qi Yuanbi, Yan Yingyuan, and Xu Ermo, Huang Xiaobao came in from outside. Seeing Zhu Cilang, he bowed and said, "Young master, the Grand Secretaries, along with the new top jinshi, second-place jinshi, and third-place jinshi, have all arrived. It is also time for the midday meal."

"Oh," Zhu Cilang nodded and said with a smile, "Today's interviews end here. Now summon the Grand Secretaries and this year's top, second, and third jinshi to see me."

"Yes."

Wei Zaode, Qian Qianyi, Hou Xun, Chen Rui, Lin Zengzhi, and Song Quan — six Grand Secretaries who also served as Ministers — along with the new top jinshi Luo Dagong, second-place jinshi Huang Zongxi, and third-place jinshi Zhang Huangyan, nine men in all, followed Huang Xiaobao in single file into the Hall of Literary Splendor. Together they performed the grand salute to Zhu Cilang, who had just risen to stretch his limbs: "Your subjects respectfully wish His Highness the Crown Prince golden peace!"

"Rise, and be seated!" Zhu Cilang waved his hand with a smile. The young eunuchs attending nearby, directed by Huang Xiaobao, moved over nine embroidered stools and let the nine officials take their seats one by one. Zhu Cilang himself, however, continued pacing about the great hall. He explained with a smile, "I spent the whole morning interviewing tribute scholars. It was truly stifling."

"So today I am not holding the morning court. I called you all over to share a meal and discuss the new policies. This afternoon I still have to continue the interviews!"

It turned out being an interviewer was no easy job! Especially when there were several hundred tribute scholars to examine one by one — that was truly not easy.

Tribute scholars! These were all great talents who had passed the Ministry of Rites metropolitan examination! Once they passed the interview hurdle, they would directly become the "father and mother of the people" of the Great Ming.

How could Zhu Cilang, the Crown Prince and foundation of the state, not take the interviews seriously? These were originally a bunch of bookish scholars with no real work experience, and now they were to be made county-level senior cadres — just thinking about it was absurd. If he did not seriously screen them, heaven only knew how many muddle-headed officials would be recruited.

Apart from screening through interviews, the only other tricks Zhu Cilang could think of were "last-place elimination" plus "high salaries." He had been very familiar with such methods in his later life, though back then he had been on the receiving end of them. Now he had finally made it, and could use them to discipline the various officials of the Great Ming.

After pacing a few rounds and stretching his limbs, Zhu Cilang ordered the meal served, then took his seat. Smiling, he swept his gaze over the nine officials before him — none of them were good people. Before long, they would surely be cursed in circles drawn by every civil official in the Great Ming!

"Luo Dagong, you are the top jinshi. You speak first!"

The top jinshi had ultimately gone to Luo Dagong of Songjiang! Because during the interview, this man had volunteered to go to Shanghai County in Songjiang Prefecture to serve as county magistrate — a post that offended people. In the past, a native serving as a local official had been forbidden, but Zhu Cilang had changed that rule.

To be a local official, one must first understand the locality! Sending some outsider with no connection whatsoever to serve as a "father and mother official" — he would leave before long, so how could he do a good job? If he were assigned to a larger prefecture or county, by the time he left office he probably would not even have visited many of the subordinate townships!

Besides, in this age the official language had not been promoted, and ordinary people all spoke local dialects. What "father and mother of the people"? Could these officials even understand the dialects their "children" spoke? If they could not even understand the speech, how could such parents raise their children?

Therefore, the first item of the bureaucratic new policies led by Zhu Cilang was to allow — no, to encourage — natives to serve as local officials.

The Crown Prince was not afraid of local civil officials colluding with local gentry (did using outside officials prevent collusion? Could one be an official without colluding?). If local civil officials engaged in corruption and abused the law, the censors of the Censorate would confiscate their estates — now the censors could take a commission from anti-corruption cases, so their enthusiasm was immense! Let the officials below go ahead and be corrupt; in the end, eighty percent of it would go to the court.

If they thought of rebelling, the Hardened New Army was no pushover! The martial noble houses of Nanjing had already been crushed, so the Jiangnan scholar-officials had better not entertain such thoughts — rebellion would just be throwing away their lives.

Of course, the small size of Zhu Cilang's directly governed territory was also one reason he did not worry about local officials and local gentry colluding to carve out separatist regimes. The distance from Nanjing to Shanghai was only seven hundred li, and at the Hardened New Army's marching speed they could arrive in three or four days. Using the 600-li express relay, messages could arrive in just over a day. Under such circumstances, separatist rebellion could never succeed!

So Luo Dagong was now appointed Shanghai County Magistrate and concurrently Deputy Commissioner of the Shanghai Commercial Port — the Shanghai Commercial Port was the "Yangtze River estuary port." The Commissioner was to be held concurrently by the Shanghai Trade and Foreign Affairs Minister, but the Minister had not yet been chosen. The Deputy Commissioner post, however, was held by Luo Dagong, the local power broker and Shanghai County Magistrate. This position was even more important than the county magistracy itself! If he truly did well, a ten-year path to the Grand Secretariat and a frontier governorship was entirely foreseeable!

Therefore, Magistrate Luo had already made up his mind: he must be a good official and capable administrator for ten years. Once he reached the Grand Secretariat or a frontier governorship, then he could be corrupt — and even then he would have to be careful not to let ruthless officials like Ji Kun catch him out.

"Thousand Years," the highly motivated Luo Dagong, upon hearing Zhu Cilang's question, immediately began offering plans and strategies, "this subject believes that the civil offices of our Great Ming should be divided into two types: court offices and staff offices."

"So-called court offices do not necessarily require serving at court, but they must be posts appointed by the court. For example, county magistrate, county sheriff, chief clerk, and the like."

"Staff offices, on the other hand, are posts that prefectures and counties may recruit and appoint on their own, including the former clerks."

"Good! That is a good proposal!" Zhu Cilang nodded repeatedly. "Local officials should indeed be given some personnel authority; otherwise they cannot command anyone. However, we cannot allow each incoming local official to dismiss all the staff officers below him. There must be a quota."

"Also, staff officers must have a path of promotion. If they do well, they should be able to rise to court offices. Go back and deliberate further, and draft a practical and workable method."

"Your subjects receive the decree."

Zhu Cilang then turned his gaze to Huang Zongxi. "Taichong, you are the second-place jinshi. Do you have any good suggestions?"

Huang Zongxi had never imagined that becoming second-place jinshi would make him feel depressed, but the thought that Luo Dagong, that little man, got ahead of him in everything — even being first to offer plans and strategies — left a bitter taste in his heart!

Still, he pulled himself together and strove on; otherwise, even his post might not last long! Huang Zongxi rose and replied, "Your Highness, this subject believes that the recruitment of staff officers should not be decided solely by the superior court officials. There should also be an examination and appointment method. The court has just abolished the juren degree, so the local gentry must harbor much discontent. If we can promptly introduce an examination method for staff officers, we can certainly win over many hearts."

"Furthermore, staff officers are not court officials; they are officials who do practical work. Therefore, Confucian learning should not be the focus of assessment. Instead, it should center on practical arts — such as mathematics, martial arts, construction, agricultural administration, medicine, and so on."

This Huang Zongxi did have insight. In later times his reputation had suddenly turned foul, and he had been labeled a "public intellectual." But in Zhu Cilang's view, his insight was still stronger than ninety percent of the Confucian officials of this era.

The mere fact that he could propose using "practical arts" to recruit officials already made him better than those who only knew how to study books to death.

As for his past misdeed of bullying the fat Prince of Fu, Zhu Cilang was not the least bit worried — the Prince of Fu was just a fat man who was easy to bully, far inferior even to the Chongzhen Emperor, let alone compared to himself. He himself was so fierce and cunning that if Huang Zongxi dared provoke him, he would be a fool.

Fellows like this who could become great Confucian scholars were all clever as ghosts, and certainly knew their place — they knew whom they could bully and whom they must not provoke.

So Zhu Cilang had "co-opted" Huang Zongxi, keeping him as a second-place jinshi in captivity. He did not send him out to the provinces, but dispatched him to the Ministry of Personnel to play the villain — as a Bureau Secretary in the Bureau of Evaluations, in charge of last-place elimination of civil officials! That was the most hated post in the entire Great Ming.

"Good," Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile. "The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites should also discuss this and draft a method for staff officer examinations."

"Zhang Cangshui, what good suggestions do you have as third-place jinshi? Speak up too!"

Zhang Huangyan was the third-place jinshi of this examination, and had also already been appointed. Like Luo Dagong, he was appointed a county magistrate. But he was not sent to his wealthy hometown of Ningbo; instead, he was assigned as magistrate of Penglai County in Shandong — Penglai was the chief county of Dengzhou, the very seat of Dengzhou city!

Going to Dengzhou as county magistrate was tantamount to going to the front lines!

(End of Chapter)