"I would like to hear the details." Zhang Juzheng said seriously.

"The so-called rejuvenation of the Ming Dynasty, to put it bluntly, is to 'make money'! As the saying goes, 'poor people suffer a lot, and poor families suffer a lot', and the same is true for a country! We must get rich first before we can become strong!" Gao Gong said in vulgar and powerful words:

"We often say that the Ming Dynasty is not without money, but the country is without money because the court cannot collect taxes. Then why did the previous dynasties, even the weak Song Dynasty, have an annual income of tens of millions of taels? After much thought, I think there are two key problems. One is that the tax system is stupid, and the other is that the local government is too weak and can't even complete basic tax collection. If you want to reform the tax system, you must first implement it effectively at the local level. So strengthening the control of the county government over the local areas is my first suggestion!"

"Yes." Zhang Juzheng nodded to indicate that he had taken note. In fact, with his memory, he didn't need to take notes at all. He had just pretended to do it for Lao Gao.

"As for how to strengthen prefectures and counties, in addition to strengthening examinations, the more important thing is to change the way officials are selected and employed!" Elder Gao said in a deep voice: "Prefects and county magistrates are officials who govern the people on behalf of the emperor. They are close to the people and are actually the most important officials in the world!"

"Yes, to put it bluntly, the Ming Dynasty consists of 1,400 prefectures and counties. These prefects and county magistrates directly manage and educate the people, shouldering the mission of collecting taxes for the court and implementing government orders." Zhang Juzheng agreed and said, "If the prefects and county magistrates are qualified, peace will prevail!"

"Well said! But what is the reality? When the court selects county officials, most of them are newly-appointed scholars. What do these bookworms who have just graduated know?" Gao Gong snorted, "They know nothing about civil affairs, and they have no idea about how to keep themselves chaste, love the people, or handle affairs! They are appointed as people-friendly officials right after the list is published, but they are manipulated by cunning officials and bad gentry, and either achieve nothing or become corrupt! After they mess up the place, they just leave and are replaced by a rookie to continue messing around. The unlucky ones are always the people, and the country is always the one that suffers!"

"Didn't they also select experienced people from the imperial examinations to serve as county magistrates?" Zhang Juzheng said with a wry smile. He really admired the Duke of Xinzheng. He thought that if he were in his situation, he would definitely not forget to worry about the country and the people even if he could not protect himself.

"You have to wait in line for the big selection, and the candidates will not despair of the imperial examination until they reach a certain age. You have not been to the Ministry of Personnel, but you have seen that the candidates who come for the big selection every year are all middle-aged men in their forties or fifties. Those at the front of the line have gray hair and beards, and hunched backs. Such people will retire after serving their terms as prefectures and counties. How can they be motivated? They either muddle through or make a fortune. None of them are willing to offend the local authorities and do practical work."

"That's the truth." Zhang Juzheng nodded and said, "These lousy chess players have been taking turns to play, making the local chess game more and more difficult. As a result, experienced and senior officials are also afraid of external forces, so they can only continue to use new scholars to fill the local areas. This cycle continues, and the situation becomes more corrupt!"

"So, this rule has to be changed!" Gao Gong slapped his thigh heavily, making a snapping sound, which attracted the angry eyes of the guards. When they saw that it was him, they walked away reluctantly. Gao Gong was unaware of it, and just said excitedly:

"I think we should set a rule that those who are over fifty can only be appointed to miscellaneous posts and cannot be the heads of prefectures and counties! In addition, those who serve as county chiefs must meet the same seniority requirements as those who are selected for the imperial examinations. Even if they are successful candidates in the imperial examinations, they cannot be directly appointed as county chiefs. They should first be trained in the ministry, province, or prefecture for a few years, and only after they pass the assessment can they be appointed as people-friendly officials! In short, we should let young, strong, and experienced officials go to prefectures and counties. We cannot let them be afraid of heavy tasks and just want to enjoy a leisurely life in the ministry!"

"How can we change the rules that have been in place for hundreds of years?" Zhang Juzheng was really shocked by Gao Gong's words. You know, in the Ming Dynasty, officials were not afraid of violating the laws of the country, but they were afraid of breaking the rules of the officialdom. Because the Ming Dynasty had been established for two hundred years, the legal codes formulated by Emperor Taizu had long been completely invalid. Instead, there was a consensus in the officialdom composed of various unspoken rules, which was the so-called officialdom rules.

What is consensus? It is the greatest common denominator that all game participants can accept. It must be beneficial to a large number of people, so it can be reached and maintained.

Today, these rules are what keep the country running and they also concern the interests of Ming officials. However, Lord Gao said that if we break them brazenly, it will definitely lead to serious consequences.

"That's why it's called civil service reform! What's the point of just changing the law? The laws are too vague and too weak! If we want to change, we have to change the rules, only then can we truly change this officialdom!" Gao Gong said with regret, "That's why I pushed the Ministry of Personnel to stipulate that 'officials in Beijing are not allowed to claim illness to avoid being sent to other places', which means that all officials in Beijing should be driven to the local areas! Unfortunately, this next step can only be done by you..."

"Then I will become the public enemy of all officials." Zhang Juzheng said with a wry smile.

"It's not just about forcing the bull to eat!" Gao Gong laughed, "One is to improve the treatment of county officials. I heard that the Jiangnan government has implemented the Single Whip Law, which has greatly increased the consumption of fuel. In addition, there are dividends from the development company, and those local officials are eating a lot of oil! Who in Beijing is not jealous? Will there be resistance if they are sent to such a place?"

"That's definitely not the case." Zhang Juzheng stroked his body and said, "But the Ming Dynasty only has one Jiangnan, and other places are still poor and troubled. Alas, it's hard to be a poor official..."

"Then we will take care of them in terms of promotion. The reason why these places are poor and chaotic is largely due to the poor quality of officials and poor management. If a soldier is incompetent, the generals will be incompetent too." Gao Gong waved his hand and said confidently:

"In the 14th year of Hongwu, the prefectures and counties in the world were divided into two categories, namely, complex and simple, according to the severity of taxes. In the first year of Longqing, Yang Yupo and I re-divided the prefectures and counties into three categories, namely, upper, middle and lower, according to the four criteria of size, complexity, remoteness and difficulty. You can refer to this. The larger, more complex, more remote, more difficult and more bordering the county is, the more people with strong age, outstanding talent and good military skills should be selected to take up the post. It is also stated that those who can protect the country and the people, help the poor and the needy, and enable the people to live and work in peace and contentment will be promoted first! If there are outstanding achievements, it is also acceptable to promote the prefecture!"

"It should also be stipulated that those who will serve as military commanders, provincial governors, and governors-general in the future must start from prefectures and counties. Those who have not completed a full term as a people-friendly official should not even think about being appointed as governor of a province!" Gao Gong said more and more boldly:

"In this way, within a few years, the declining situation of the prefectures and counties can be completely reversed. Even if you do nothing else but do this one thing well, you can gain the reputation of 'a wise minister who can restore the country'!"

"You can imagine how great the resistance is." Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but sigh.

"Yes, there is great resistance, but compared to cracking down on annexation and eliminating the vassal states, it is already very easy." Gao Gong looked at him and said, "There is a way to reduce the resistance. That is to set an example yourself and change the system of selecting cabinet ministers first! This is also my second suggestion to you!"

"The colleagues have recommended it and the emperor has approved it. Is there any problem?" Zhang Juzheng thought to himself, good guy, the rat is pulling the shovel - the big head is behind!

"That's not a problem. The problem is the candidacy of the cabinet ministers themselves. In the beginning, the cabinet was just an institution that managed the emperor's writings and provided advice, so it was no problem to use Hanlin officials as university scholars. But today, the cabinet has become a political hall, and although the cabinet ministers don't have the title of prime minister, they actually serve as prime ministers. For example, your uncle Zhang is called Zhang Xianggong, isn't that because he is regarded as the prime minister of the Song Dynasty?"

Gao Gong said in a deep voice:

"Then the problem arises. Hanlin is a poet who deals with articles and classics. The prime minister is responsible for managing government affairs and balancing yin and yang. The two are not completely unrelated, but 'only Hanlin can enter the cabinet' is missing the point! It also blocks the path of those non-Hanlin officials to become prime ministers!"

"Mr. Yuan, if it weren't for this, I'm afraid you and I wouldn't be able to become Grand Secretaries." Zhang Juzheng said with a wry smile, "It would be like being seen as a traitor by my colleagues at Zhan Han."

"What does that matter? I am forcing them to step out of the government. You can't learn how to govern a country from a pile of old papers!" Gao Gong waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Besides, non-Hanlin officials will definitely support it. In the past, they had no hope of becoming prime ministers, so they didn't learn how to become prime ministers. They only focused on the specific affairs of a department or province, so of course it was difficult for them to become prime ministers! So we should remove this obstacle and set higher standards for cabinet ministers. For example, only those who have served as governors in local areas and as seven ministers in the court are eligible to join the cabinet..."

Zhang Juzheng was stunned. He did not expect Gao Gong's reform blueprint to be so grand! It was much more far-reaching than what he had talked about with him before.

Before, Gao Gong only made minor improvements to the civil service. For example, he promoted the system of re-election and special support for officials in the Ministry of War and added two assistant ministers to the Ministry of War; he promoted the long-term appointment of officials in the Ministry of Justice to reduce false and wrongful convictions; he re-established the system of selecting and appointing financial officials in the Ministry of Revenue and wanted to add a maritime transport office. Zhang Juzheng thought that he was governing a big country like cooking a small fish, and was afraid that taking too big a step would lead to big mistakes.

Now I know that there is more bullshit to come. I just didn’t tell myself.

Maybe he was afraid of scaring me off? Or did he never intend to let me participate in the civil service reform? Or maybe he dared to think but not to do, so he just threw it all at me for the sake of talking nonsense? Zhang Juzheng thought of several speculations and asked calmly, "What's the other one?"

"Third, we must reform the censor system! The censors are the worst system. If the Ming Dynasty falls, it will be because of the censors!" Then Gao Gong said sternly, "The court allows them to report on matters based on hearsay without taking any responsibility. They don't need to consider the facts, the gains and losses, or the interests of the country, and only seek to make a splash! They know nothing, but dare to speak nonsense, use a few parallelisms, mention their ancestors more, and they think their articles are great works to defend the truth! Then they flatter each other and use this to make a name for themselves! But they don't care about national affairs at all, and how much they have ruined!"

Gao Gong said with deep disgust: "At this time when the country is in danger, the people in charge should have made some achievements and tried their best to find a way out for the Ming Dynasty! However, the slightest change will attract the censors to criticize. The court has no choice but to accommodate them as it is the channel for criticism. As a result, they were blocked halfway and nothing was accomplished in the end..."

Zhang Juzheng deeply agreed with this and humbly asked how to change it.

Gao Gong was about to explain his policy when he suddenly heard a cheer from the pavilion: "Your Majesty has woken up!"

p.s. I will write one more update.