Zhao Zhen did not reply to Du Zhongxiao's suggestion. Neither said it was right nor wrong, but only said that it was reasonable, and the courtiers gathered to discuss. Du Zhongxiao himself understands that these are major events in the world, and it is impossible for the two monarchs and ministers to decide it by talking about it here. If you want to implement it, you must have the cooperation of the rulers of the Chinese book, otherwise it will be a great chaos in the DPRK and China.

After talking about the macro policy, Zhao Zhen said: "Regarding the affairs of Ye County, you said in the chapter that if you want peace in the world, you must know how the people in the world think, how to do, and how to live their lives every day. This is the truth, but it is too difficult for the imperial court. ”

Du Zhongxiao Gongwat said: "It's difficult to say that this matter is difficult, but if you think about it carefully, you really want to do it, but it's not difficult." ”

Zhao Zhen said: "Interesting, how to say? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Words are the voice of the heart, if you can know what people usually like to say and what they like to hear, you should know a rough idea." For those who work in the fields all day, their main concern is nothing more than the tax on errand duty, which is relatively simple. And the workers and businessmen in the towns have more things to care about. If you know what the goulan tiles in the town are playing, which ones are meaningless to amuse you, and which ones reflect the voice of the people, you can know the general psychology of the people in the town. During the Heping period in the mainland, this was done in general. The so-called wind and elegance in the Book of Poetry is the reason why the wind can best reflect the hearts of the people. At that time, there were few people in the world, and the king sent people out to collect folk songs, so he knew what the people wanted. Now there are many people in the world, if you can follow the meaning of the ancient style, you should also know the hearts of the people in the world. ”

Zhao Zhen smiled when he heard it: "Zhongcheng said this, it should be good." It is indeed ancient that the monarch collects the style to know the public opinion. It's just that today, there are few folk songs in the world, and people's hearts are not as simple as the ancients, with more beautiful sounds and no pure music. It is difficult to see the human heart from this. It can even be said that it is impossible to do it. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Your Majesty, the matter is man-made. With the monarch's style, the people can express their minds directly, which is a complementary thing. As long as the imperial court is willing to exert efforts to collect the voices of the people, the voices of the people will naturally reflect the voices of the people more and more. The foundation of the world is the people of the world, and if the people are happy, the country and the people will naturally be safe. This kind of thing can't be stopped because it's difficult. ”

Zhao Zhen said: "What does Zhongcheng want? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Yushitai was originally a supervising official, what kind of supervision is used, although there are regulations, but it is too careless. The minister thinks that the supervision of officials can be from two aspects. First, every position must have its responsibilities, mainly regulations, whether it is done or not, and how well it is done, the court has its own rules. There is also the perception of the people. If you don't follow the regulations, you are a good official, and you want the people to be satisfied. There are discrepancies in this, which of course are determined by the imperial court. And the people's perception can't be asked, otherwise it will be done in vain after all, and everything is acting. Either it is the venting of some people, and it does not reflect the voice of the people. To really know what the people think, we still have to start with ordinary things. The minister thought that the imperial court spent some money, and the imperial history platform hired local literati to collect local songs, folk songs, and repertoire performed by Goolan Wazi, and sorted out their popularity as a reference for the administration of the imperial court. This cannot be used as a basis for the promotion and promotion of officials, so that the imperial court can know the effect of governance on the people. ”

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said, "This matter is not difficult. Now that the imperial court has abundant money and food, it can allocate some to the Imperial History Observatory and set up special officials to do this. Or, with the participation of the pavilion officials, it is also a matter of grace. ”

In fact, Zhao Zhen didn't think that this had any effect. It's just that Du Zhongxiao's status is important, and he gave up his military power to enter the dynasty to be the middle of the imperial history, which is the time to win over, and it is not bad for this money.

Du Zhongxiao thanked him, and said: "In Ye County, the governance of the local government used to rely on public servants, mainly to collect taxes. In the past two years, money and food have been abundant, and most of the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes have been abolished, making it easy to collect taxes. The most important thing for magistrates is not to collect taxes, but to limit what public officials can do. Some of the previous methods did not work and had to be changed. The minister thought that at this time the top priority of the place. ”

This is the real key point, Zhao Zhen immediately became serious when he heard it, and said: "How to do it, Zhongcheng will explain it in detail." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "If the imperial court sends officials to govern the locality, the power of the place will be in the hands of the officials." It's just that most of the officials are not familiar with the place, and they have to rely on officials to do things. How many people are there in the world who are really good at officials? In most cases, officials are fooled by public officials and are powerless to do anything about local affairs. Weichen thought that Ye County had abundant finances and could try a new method. ”

Seeing Zhao Zhen nodding, Du Zhongxiao continued: "The minister boiled down this method to a few. Officials are in power, officials are in charge, and officials are in charge. Local power must be in the hands of officials, and all decisions should be made by the nods of officials. If there are not enough officials, the number of officials will be increased. Carefully dividing local affairs into a single division actually doesn't take many officials. According to the decisions made by the officials, it is the local officials who do the specific work. And those who are the arms of the officials and help them get things done should be local errands. The key is that the clerks are employed, and they are good enough to support their families. Errand service is the rotation of households under the rule, which can be subsidized, not too much. ”

Zhao Zhen thought for a while, nodded and said, "What you said makes sense." Now the state is better, and the county officials are not clear, and many officials have to implement the conscription law. You say that officials should be hired, and they are more than profitable, but they are somewhat similar. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Now that there is enough money and food, the court can afford it." In the past few years, the discount has decreased, and the officials have paid more cash, which is equivalent to an increase in the amount of money. In particular, the income of officials at the bottom has increased a lot compared with previous years. However, for state and county officials, the revenue is still insufficient without the minister's money to replenish it. The minister thought that he could spend more money on the officials. Increase the income of low-level officials, and at the same time increase the income of officials, so that their income is enough to support their families. Then the imperial court made regulations to increase the restraint on officials and prevent them from harming the people. ”

The officials of the Song Dynasty, especially in the prefectures and counties, were sometimes indistinguishable from the errands. Officials are issued by the imperial court, and no matter what the place is, there will generally be no less. This is not necessarily the case for public officials, who do not have many good quotas, and the local finances are not good, so they often do not give money, and they become errand servants. In this case, it is natural that the officials cannot be expected to be innocent and fair, and they also have to eat. Du Zhongxiao's reform actually managed the officials as former officials, and gave them enough money to support their families. Since the officials are all locals, the pressure to support their families is not as great as that of the officials, and the income is of course lower. In fact, now that the finances are abundant, more should be spent on officials and grassroots management.

Zhao Zhen thought about it again and again, and said: "In this way, there is more money spent on officials, and it has a great impact on the imperial court." This is a major matter, and it requires the ministers to deliberate. However, there is nothing in Yexian County, you can do it there first. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "What Your Majesty said is that what Weichen means is also to try it first in Ye County." There are many factories and there are abundant finances, so you can do that. In Ye County, competent officials can be selected to carry out reform experiments. Officials are in power, officials are in charge, and servants are minions. Of course, the decision-making of a place is made by the officials, and it is the officials who do the work, and the servants supervise the officials while helping the officials to do things. Because the errand servants are all local households, they know the pros and cons best, and they can be the first to sue the officials for fraud. ”

Officials serve a three-year term, and it is impossible for them to be familiar with the localities, and their administration is mostly superficial, and it is difficult to penetrate into the people's livelihood. The real impact on people's livelihood is the local officials. The monitoring of them is the top priority of the local government. In the past, there was no actual supervision of officials, and they were completely managed by officials.

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