Zhu Youxiao took out his notebook and wrote down the talents recommended by Teacher Yuan. Without a mobile phone or computer, Zhu Youxiao could only use this clumsy method.
Although he understood the trajectory of history, Zhu Youxiao was deeply aware of his limited historical knowledge. He knew about prominent figures like Sun Chengzong, Xu Guangqi, and Sun Chuanting, but there were only a few of them.
For example, this man named Lu Shanji, who became a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli, is currently the director of the Military Affairs Department and is famous for his outstanding talents.
As a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli's reign, he was considered to have considerable experience, but he was still a minor official. The reason was that he was extremely stubborn and was repeatedly demoted and demoted by Emperor Wanli.
Although Yuan Keli praised Lu Shanji's personality and academic charm, Zhu Youxiao did not care about this stubborn "fight to death". What he valued was another specialty of Lu Shanji.
After Lu Shanji first entered the official career, he was first appointed as an envoy to the Ministry of War, and later as the director of the Shandong Division of the Ministry of Revenue, in charge of salt law. Since the country's border pay depended on this, he studied the salt law, learned from experts, and wrote "On the Salt Law of Guangdong and Fujian".
What kind of talents does Zhu Youxiao urgently need now? First, he needs generals who can fight, and second, he needs capable people who can make money.
Lu Shanji had studied the salt law, so what kind of legal proposals could he have written? Wouldn't it be appropriate for him to work in the salt administration? Even if he didn't work in the salt administration, working in the Ministry of Revenue would be a good match for his profession.
In fact, Zhu Youxiao also found that relying solely on his limited historical knowledge was definitely not enough to find capable officials. Unless he had Baidu to help, who would know what each person had done and what their special skills were.
Despite this, Zhu Youxiao gradually discovered some patterns: that is, most of those who had worked in local areas and had outstanding political achievements were talented.
Like Denglai Governor Tao Langxian, Tianjin Governor Bi Ziyan, Sichuan Governor Zhu Xieyuan, and some even lesser-known prefects and governors, they were all very talented and managed the local areas very well.
From this, Zhu Youxiao came to a conclusion that might not be entirely correct. Serving as an official at the local level was more about practical work ability and a better understanding of the suffering of the common people, which could be used as a criterion for evaluating officials.
Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. If you can't even govern a county, a state, or a prefecture properly, and yet you go to the court and boast about your statecraft, isn't that just bullshit?
During the Ming Dynasty, most cabinet members came from the Hanlin Academy, which was also known as the government's talent reserve. After Emperor Yingzong, it became a rule that only Jinshi could enter the Hanlin Academy, and only Hanlin could enter the cabinet.
Although it is not absolute, it is still rare for local governors to enter the cabinet.
Zhu Youxiao had already begun to reorganize the cabinet. Minister of War Zhang Heming was the first to be dismissed, followed by Minister of Personnel Zhao Nanxing.
The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of finance and taxation, which is the economic lifeline of the country. The current Shangshu Li Zongyan, although he has some support and sympathy for the Donglin Party, is still a relatively gentle and practical person.
However, Li Zongyan was old and lacked the spirit of forging ahead. Zhu Youxiao wanted to reform, so he naturally had to replace him and retire.
Only when Zhu Youxiao holds the three powers of military, personnel, and finance can he carry out drastic reforms. The problem now is that it is easy to take over, but who can take over and act according to his wishes is a problem that he is quite worried about.
Now, Tao Langxian, Bi Ziyan, and Li Qiyuan, who was appointed in the first year of Taichang and served as the Right Censor-in-Chief and Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and was in charge of military affairs in the three border areas of Shaanxi and was in charge of food and wages, have been selected by Zhu Youxiao and will soon enter the cabinet.
Li Qiyuan was noticed by Zhu Youxiao because he was the one who submitted a memorial with twelve clauses, claiming that the army was insufficient and the three chiefs Huoluo, Chiji, Nengyin and Dai were taking advantage of the opportunity to commit crimes.
Zhu Youxiao approved all of the suggestions as they were well-organized and the measures were appropriate, and began to carefully check Li Qiyuan's resume.
You don’t know until you see it, and you’ll be shocked when you see it.
Li Qiyuan has experienced the reigns of five emperors: Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli, Taichang and Tianqi. He has served successively as county magistrate, director of the Ministry of Revenue, councilor, deputy envoy, councilor, provincial governor, provincial governor, governor-general and governor-general. It can be said that he started from the grassroots level and was promoted step by step purely through hard work and political achievements.
When Li Qiyuan was appointed magistrate of Yuanwu County in Henan Province, a famine struck. He opened his granaries and established soup kitchens, saving tens of thousands of starving people. However, he himself endured hunger and traveled extensively to inspect the area, becoming thinner and more frail.
When he was the head of the Ministry of Revenue, Li Qiyuan was known for his mastery of ministry affairs.
When he was serving as a councilor of Shandong and sent to Linqing, Linqing experienced a civil uprising. Li Qiyuan played an important role in quelling the uprising, saving the court 48,000 taels of silver, and storing up reserves for famine relief. He was highly regarded by Emperor Wanli.
When he was serving as the Left Governor of Henan Province, Li Qiyuan was praised as "the most honest person in the world".
Such qualifications and political achievements, step by step, shine wherever they are. Respectable old comrade, respectable old revolutionary!
Moreover, Zhu Youxiao believed that Li Qiyuan had a sharp eye and could discover the accumulated problems of the Ming Dynasty better than him. He was also non-partisan, honest and dedicated, and could be the Minister of Revenue.
Tianjin Governor Bi Ziyan was also a good person with some talent in financial management. However, Zhu Youxiao felt that he was good at budgeting but lacked the imagination to expand financial resources.
Cost saving is necessary, but opening up is more important.
Raiding the homes of corrupt officials, taking cuts from the royal family, and collecting industrial and mining taxes were all ways to go about it. But the most important source of revenue was earning money through exports!
But it is easy to lift the sea ban and it is not difficult to make money, but it is not easy to fill the national treasury.
After the opening of the port during the Longqing reign, one-third of the world's silver flowed into China in the more than 70 years until the demise of the Ming Dynasty. But how much wealth did the Ming Dynasty accumulate?
To put it bluntly, the country was still extremely poor, and Chongzhen died of poverty.
Not only did the country not make any money, but the influx of a large amount of silver caused inflation, making life even more difficult for ordinary people.
Do you understand? Maritime trade is about making money, a lot of money, but it is not the country that makes the money, but the maritime merchants and the officials involved.
Not to mention that only Yuegang was a trade port when it was opened during the Longqing reign. According to the current system and bureaucratic system, even if ten or eight more ports were opened, the bulk of the wealth would still not flow into the national treasury, and the rich would still be the wealthy families, scholars, merchants and officials in the south of the Yangtze River.
Just like commercial taxes, there are so many banknotes and customs, but they still cannot stop the privileges of officials and businessmen, and cannot stop wealthy businessmen from evading taxes through various means.
Small and medium-sized businessmen who have no connections are complaining bitterly. They have become the ones paying the most taxes, and they have to pay taxes at every customs check, which makes their business difficult.
There is a story in "Miscellaneous Matters of Nanjing" that is very thought-provoking and made Zhu Youxiao extremely angry.
It is said that during the Wanli period, there was a commoner who wanted to do some small business to make a living. After scraping together seven or eight taels of silver, he bought a batch of lamp wicks from his hometown and hired a boat to transport them to sell.
The tax rate is one in thirty, which is only two or three cents. It is not a heavy burden. Ordinary people calculate that they can earn at least two or three taels of silver in a round trip.
But there were more than ten customs offices on the waterway of more than a hundred miles, and they collected nearly four taels of silver in taxes.
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