The high price of land near Shanghai made a group of gentry see that selling land and turning into business and opening factories, or forming engineering teams to build buildings, roads and wharves, and the profits are much higher than renting land, so many gentry have changed their careers, from landlords to merchants, capitalists, and contract foremen. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Qi Bansun asked with some concern: "Now that Jiangnan no longer grows rice fields, the money earned by planting mulberry trees and tea is obviously more than Zhong Daotian, and this is not counting, people have already begun to grow cotton." If the gentry all over the world find out that planting mulberry trees, tea, and cotton can make money, and those who grow rice are about to be unable to survive, then everyone will not grow food and plant these things instead, will the world be in chaos in the future? ”

Yao Tingxuan replied: "Since the implementation of a whip law in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, paying taxes with silver, there have been many rice fields in Jiangnan that have become mulberry tea forests, so the granary of the world has changed from Jiangnan to Huguang. Now that our army has captured Huguang, there is a granary in Huguang, so why worry about the lack of food? ”

"What if the Huguang gentry also imitated Jiangnan and planted mulberry trees and tea? Nowadays, there is still cotton to grow, and even if the land in Huguang is not suitable for growing mulberry trees and tea, they can grow cotton, which is much more profitable than growing rice fields. When they see this, won't they switch to cotton farming? Qi Bansun asked.

Before Yao Tingxuan could answer, Fang Yizhi replied first: "The tenants of Huguang have turned into farm workers, and the gentry have rented their fields to some small landlords who are good at managing land. And those small landlords who originally had dozens of acres of land at home have now contracted a large amount of farmland and turned it into large farms, employing the original tenants to cultivate it, so that the efficiency of arable land is much higher. It's just one point, large farms use new farm tools, and there is no need for so many people, many tenants have been quit, and they have nowhere to plant if they want to, either going south to Nanyang, or going to Guangzhou and Shanghai to work. ”

Qi Bansun said: "Men and women weave, is the foundation of the stability of the people, now the farmers do not farm, the textile factory in Shanghai has more than 20,000 weavers, and produce a large number of cotton cloth, farmers do not weave their own cloth. In the long run, if the peasants don't farm the land and don't weave cloth, won't the world be chaotic? ”

Yao Tingxuan replied: "There is so much land in the world! There is the South Sea, there is the Americas, there is the South Continent in the middle of the ocean, there is Sakhalin Island and the mouth of the Heilongjiang River in the far north, how can there be no land? ”

"If all the gentry in the world are engaged in business, what kind of system is this?" Qi Bansun said angrily.

After all, Qi Bansun was still a traditional scholar, and according to the social status of the year, the social status of the merchant was very low and belonged to a low class. Although many gentry also sent their housekeepers and cronies to do business, but after all, it was not on the surface, the gentry of those years still rented farmland to tenants, and studied and studied by themselves to gain fame. I also heard that Wang Xinyu is preparing to reform the imperial examination system, and the readers who only know the "Four Books and Five Classics" are no longer useful, and they also add mathematics and Gewu according to the requirements, which will jam many readers.

In addition, Wang Xinyu also opened a large number of new schools, from primary school to middle school, and then to university. Every student who graduates from high school is equivalent to showing off his talents; Graduating from college is equivalent to making a name for yourself.

After completing the bachelor's degree, you can also take the higher level of study, and obtain a master's degree, which is equivalent to a gongshi after graduation; After graduating with a doctorate, it is equivalent to a jinshi.

The creation of new universities also threatened the interests of the gentry. Now the gentry class wants to control the people below, and there are officials above, so they have to let their children go to the new schools to study.

In addition, the reform of the bureaucratic system also subverted the concept of the gentry in those years. At that time, although the officials looked majestic, they actually had a very low social status, and it can be seen from the fact that the officials were not allowed to take the test for fame, and the gentry class actually looked down on the officials.

But now as soon as the official system is reformed, the small officials have also become officials, although the small officials at the grassroots level are not in the grade, but as long as they survive the years, or show meritorious achievements, they can gradually be promoted to nine officials, eight officials, and then step by step. In this way, in fact, the status of the petty officials was elevated to the same level as that of officials.

As long as there is a talent and fame, you can enter the county government as a small official.

Originally, local officials had to pay for their own salaries, but now they also have official positions and have been transformed into official officials, and the state pays their salaries. In fact, the current master is equivalent to the same position as the secretary general of the later government, and his status in the prefect's yamen is second only to the prefect and the same knowledge.

Purely on the surface, this is a good thing for those masters, who are generally famous people. Theoretically speaking, if you have a fame, you can become an official. However, there are not so many real shortages for them to be officials, so in Shaoxing, which is full of talents and can obtain the highest proportion of fame, there is a means of making a living by scholars to serve as yamen scribes, and since the Ming Dynasty, Shaoxing master is famous all over the world.

However, after the reform of the bureaucratic system, it is not so easy to hold the position of master, because the master has become an official position, and there is an opportunity for promotion, so it is much more difficult to serve as a master.

The minor officials in the yamen have also changed now, and the minor officials must pass the examination before they can be appointed. Originally, a group of small officials in the yamen had to take the exam again, and those who couldn't pass the exam were eliminated, and a group of scholars were recruited to serve as small officials.

However, the little officials are not all scholars, for example, the official in other places, the fast catcher, the white service and the like, the test is mainly martial arts, as long as you can know a small number of words, the key is to have kung fu.

Shanghai Mansion is not the same as other places, although Shanghai has changed from the prefect of the county all the way to the prefect of Sanpin, but the prefect's yamen has not expanded much, but outside the yamen, another patrol room has been set up, and a large number of patrols have been recruited to replace the original yamen to catch fast. Shanghai's legal and administrative powers were also separated, and in addition to the prefect and the Tongzhi, there was also a separate judge, with a special court yamen, and in addition to judges, there were also patrols and arrests.

Yao Tingxuan said: "In fact, it is very easy for the gentry of the world to transform. On the one hand, their industry can change from dealing in land to farming, factory owners, and merchants. On the other hand, they can send their children to new schools, and after completing their studies, they can become officials. ”

In fact, the bureaucratic system was slowly reformed at an early stage, as early as four years ago, Wang Xinyu set up the Dongfan Academy of Sciences, so that those who study Gewu can also have official positions.

Now, after four years, there are many craftsmen who have passed the examination and obtained the position of the Academy of Sciences, that is, they have the corresponding rank of officials.