Regarding the issue of selecting scholars from the north and the south, Zhu Yuanzhang had actually paid attention to the imperial examinations over the years.

But I didn't take it seriously.

Or maybe he didn't take the imperial examination seriously, and it didn't matter if he took a break for seven or eight years.

This situation is mainly due to the lifelong tenure system for officials.

When all official positions are filled, it means that the court no longer needs to hold imperial examinations to recruit officials.

Because there is nowhere to put the students who pass the exam.

For most officials, once they become officials, it is for life.

For example, a county magistrate in a remote place.

If nothing unexpected happens, a scholar in his thirties or forties might be assigned here.

He has no connections, his talents are not particularly outstanding, and his local political achievements are just so-so.

Under such circumstances, the county magistrate would probably continue to work until he was sixty or seventy years old.

It is even possible that he would die in this position when he was in his seventies or eighties, and then report to the court and request a new county magistrate to be sent.

It sounds a little ridiculous, because even at the age of seventy, the county magistrate has become senile and even demented, but he will still stay in this position.

"Grandpa, I have another idea. Please give it to me."

Seeing that the old man was very satisfied with the memorial on separate recruitment of officials from the north and the south, Zhu Ying struck while the iron was hot and put forward his idea of ​​adopting a retirement system for officials.

In fact, Zhu Ying had already written these contents a long time ago, but he never showed them out because he was concerned about the old man's thoughts.

Because the old man is not young anymore, Zhu Ying is afraid that if this charter is proposed, the old man will associate it with himself.

Now that spring is approaching, the official positions in the imperial court are actually still relatively full.

How to make subsequent arrangements for these successful students is also a problem that both myself and my grandfather need to consider.

Moreover, the plan of selecting scholars from both the north and the south will allow more students to be selected.

Zhu Yuanzhang took the memorial and began to read it.

Zhu Ying observed carefully.

At the beginning, the old man's brows soon frowned, which made Zhu Ying a little worried.

But soon, when he saw the reasons written by his eldest grandson, Zhu Yuanzhang's brows slowly relaxed.

In this memorial, Zhu Ying actually collected many specific cases.

Most of them were ridiculous things that happened because the officials were too old.

In addition, as people age, their abilities in all aspects decline, which brings them some troubles and hidden dangers.

The simplest statement.

No matter what kind of official position he held, especially inspectors, censors, or even county magistrates, to a large extent, he needed to visit the villages every once in a while to see if there was any unfair or illegal happenings.

If you get older, you can basically stay in the government office every day and have no control over the outside world.

At this time, no one knew that some of the people below had completely stripped him of his authority.

Even some imperial decrees could not be effectively spread to the common people.

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a while, and then asked:

"The eldest grandson knows how huge this expense is and it will continue to burden the national treasury."

"If this goes on for a long time, how can we continue?"

"As for the garrisons, according to the gradual reform of the eldest grandson, the burden will gradually be transferred to the national treasury. Add to that the salaries of officials after retirement, and we are really a little worried."

"Since the ancient dynasties, such behavior has never been seen before."

"The eldest grandson said that without any worries, it can effectively prevent officials from engaging in corruption."

"We know these officials best. No matter how high their salaries are, their greed has never diminished."

"Perhaps many officials, when they first started their careers, also set lofty ambitions to live an honest life and benefit the people."

"But it's not so easy to get rid of all kinds of relationships, family ties, relatives and friends. Once you get started, you won't have any restraints or concerns when you commit corruption later."

"Besides, if they retire at the age of 60, wouldn't the court have to support them for another 20 to 30 years if they are in good health?"

The Ming Dynasty now has very detailed regulations regarding officials' retirement.

Officials of the third rank and above may retire from their current positions, while officials of the fourth rank and below who have served in their current positions for three years without any major offenses may be promoted to the next level and retire.

In the early years, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that retired officials should receive their original salaries, but he soon found that the burden was too heavy and abolished it.

Later, it was stipulated that officials would not be given retirement salaries under normal circumstances. However, those who were poor and could not support themselves would be given two dan of rice per month by the officials to support themselves.

What this means is that retired officials who can’t even afford to eat can receive a minimum living allowance to ensure they don’t starve to death.

According to the eldest grandson's current proposal, all officials who are over 60 years old and have no special needs will be retired.

After that, the court would also have to bear the cost of arranging their salaries after retirement.

This made it difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang to accept.

Faced with the old man's questions, Zhu Ying, who had been prepared for a long time, was not at all flustered.

Then he took out another booklet from his pocket and handed it over.

"Good boy, you have something to hide from us."

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he took it with a smile and curse.

The Ming Dynasty did not have an institution similar to the Statistics Bureau of later generations. This booklet contains a summary of information about current officials.

As the old man was checking the summary data, Zhu Ying introduced: "There are currently 27,896 officials in the Ming Dynasty."

"Even if we divide the money equally among each person by 10 strings of banknotes, that would be nearly 300,000 per month, or about 3.6 million per year. Based on the current income, the tax increase is not difficult to bear."

"Among these officials, 60% are over 50 years old, the remaining 30% are over 40 years old, and only 10% are under 40 years old."

"Most of the officials' grandchildren have simple records in the documents. About 75% of the officials were promoted not because of their political achievements, but through seniority and then recommendation."

"The biggest drawback of recommendation is that relatives and friends will hide their true feelings among each other, which is most likely to form cliques. Talented officials will not be promoted, but those with connections will be promoted instead."

"In the long run, this will be a huge hidden danger to the official environment of the entire Ming Dynasty."

"Grandpa is very observant and can definitely tell the difference between loyalty and treachery. I think I have some knowledge as well, so generally speaking, there won't be any problems."

"But what about future generations? Will they be able to excel from generation to generation? If a fool appears among them, wouldn't it destroy the foundation of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Many dynasties in ancient and modern times reached their peak when they were founded. None of the later dynasties could surpass them. Instead, they became weaker and weaker, and the lives of the people became more and more difficult. Therefore, the dynasty collapsed and a new country was established."

"The key to this, grandson has repeatedly thought about it. It seems to be the work of a tyrant emperor, but in fact it is more closely related to officials at all levels."

"If a few more unworthy descendants come, our Ming Dynasty..."

Having said this, Zhu Ying stopped talking.

Because Zhu Ying knew very well that the old man's weakness had always been how to make the Ming Dynasty last forever.

Currently, all systems of the Ming Dynasty are designed around this point.

Sure enough, while listening to his eldest grandson's report and looking at the detailed data in the booklet, Zhu Yuanzhang's mind began to change.

After pondering for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his hand and said, "Come on."

Zhu Ying chuckled: "Grandson knows that he can't hide it from grandpa."

After saying that, he took out the third booklet from his arms.