范仲淹挠挠头，他哪懂这些，便直起身，坐在了木塌上，转移话题道：“最近这段时间研究了一下你给我的方案，我觉得有些问题啊。”
“什么问题？”
“农业改革上还是有些激进。”
“哪一点激进？”
赵骏问。
范仲淹从旁边的桌子上将赵骏给的资料拿过来，翻开一页道：“开展全国治理，要求各地官府清查地方地主恶霸，一旦有那种为非作歹者，手上沾了人命，欺压百姓、横行乡里、无恶不作，一律处决，没收全部财产，转为官府公田，低地租租给无地百姓。”
“有问题吗？”
Zhao Jun wondered, "I personally think this is necessary because we must uphold the country's legal system and the interests of farmers. Furthermore, regular, long-term crackdowns on organized crime and evildoers contribute to national stability."
"But you have to consider the actual situation. You were able to do this in your time because the social environment was very different. In the Song Dynasty, even if local officials strictly enforced the law, the personnel sent to enforce it were local clerks who were deeply in cahoots with the landlords and bullies."
Fan Zhongyan pointed out the crux of the matter, saying, "As later generations would say, our grassroots control is far from sufficient. County officials rely on these clerks to carry out their duties, so it's only a matter of time before cover-ups and concealments occur."
"Of course I thought of that. Do you think I've been away for nothing these past few years? How could I not know the harm that local officials can cause?"
Zhao Jun smiled and said, "I've already studied this hierarchical structure. If we want to dismantle the local officials, we must address three aspects."
"oh?"
Fan Zhongyan became interested and asked, "Which three aspects?"
"First, they must be given a source of income, second, they need to be given room for advancement, and third, they need to be supervised."
Zhao Jun said, "These vast clerks aren't included in the imperial salary system. Their income comes entirely from bribery and corruption, and they have no room for advancement. They do the dirtiest, most tiring, and most difficult work, and with no hope of success, they naturally become self-destructive. But with a guaranteed income and room for advancement, things will be different."
"You mean the two-tax system and the clerk assessment?"
Fan Zhongyan remembered several other things that Zhao Jun mentioned during the reform.
"good."
Zhao Jun nodded. "Taxes will be divided into national and local taxes. Local taxes will be used for local expenses and clerk salaries. Outstanding clerks can be recommended by the county magistrate to take the provincial examination. Those who pass can then come to Bianliang to take the examination again. Those who pass the examination can become officials."
There is no need to say much about the two tax systems of national tax and local tax. The assessment of clerks is different from the civil service examinations of later generations. It is a product of the combination of the Han Dynasty's recommendation system and the Tang and Song Dynasty's imperial examination system.
In the Han Dynasty, if a clerk performed well, he would be recommended by the provincial government to become an official. This process was called "Ju Maocai".
The imperial examination was to select the Jinshi degree.
However, this situation of selecting outstanding talents had become meaningless by the end of the Han Dynasty, and the channels for promotion through imperial examinations were often monopolized by wealthy and aristocratic families. At that time, there was a saying that "if you select a filial and honest official, his father will live separately; if you select an outstanding talent, he will not know how to read."
Zhao Jun combined the two, asking county magistrates to recommend outstanding clerks for the prefectural examinations, equivalent to the provincial examinations in the imperial examinations. Those who passed the prefectural examinations could then participate in the metropolitan examinations organized by the Ministry of Personnel. Passing these examinations would grant them the status of Jinshi (a jinshi), allowing them to enter the government as officials.
In this way, since local county magistrates have almost no power to interfere in the examination levels of the provincial and capital examinations, through the provincial and capital examinations, the practice of local county magistrates recommending relatives and engaging in favoritism and fraud can be eliminated, and to a large extent, some more outstanding clerk talents can be selected.
certainly.
Since many people in the huge group of clerks are obviously very talented, but their family background makes them unable to go to school, and their cultural level may not be high, it is necessary to lower the cultural difficulty and focus on practical work. It is enough to have knowledge at the level of a scholar in the Song Dynasty.
Compared with rote learning, Zhao Jun values practical ability more.
"Well, when I think about it, since the county magistrate controls the qualifications for recommending clerks, and they also have local income, the possibility of them colluding with landlords and bullies is indeed much smaller."
Fan Zhongyan felt that what Zhao Jun gave was quite plausible.
"But it's only useful temporarily. This way, the county magistrate controls the promotion channels of local clerks, which will inevitably give the county magistrate great influence over these people. If those landlords and bullies turn around and collude with the local county magistrate, the harm will be even greater."
Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "So the typical five-year term for senior officials shouldn't be applied to lower-level officials in prefectures and counties. A three-year term is better. Three years is generally enough to produce results, and it won't be as deeply involved with the local government. With the local tax and clerk assessments, I hope most county magistrates will seize the opportunity and eradicate the local problems."
"What about supervision? County magistrates are easily deceived by clerks, so how can they supervise them?"
Fan Zhongyan asked again.
"Farmers' Association."
"Farmers' Association?"
"good."
Zhao Jun said: "Each county should organize an inventory of its specific population and the distribution of towns and villages. Based on the distance between villages, villagers should be allowed to organize farmers' associations. The members of the farmers' associations must be middle peasants, poor peasants, and hired farmers with only one household owning less than 20 mu of land."
"What does it do?"
"It is naturally to help local governments supervise the local area and indirectly achieve the role of supervision."
"You're talking nonsense. Putting aside whether the farmers' association obeys the orders of the local government, if the people form cliques, wouldn't it be more likely for an uprising?"
Fan Zhongyan expressed his dissatisfaction.
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