Universal education. Confucius, who had founded private schools thousands of years ago, finally saw the dawn of realization of his ideal of educating everyone without discrimination.
Ironically, this was not accomplished in the hands of the scholars who claimed to be the disciples of the Saints, but in the hands of the new Emperor who was born as a military general.
The new Emperor was a military officer, and his first decree was to popularize education in the three southeastern provinces and Northern Zhili.
Some people did not understand and only felt that the Emperor was fooling around. But others understood and knew that the Emperor was playing a big game of chess.
Thinking of the Emperor's decree that officials also had to pay agricultural taxes on their land, they knew that the Emperor wanted to use this wave to get rid of the tradition of giving preferential treatment to the gentry.
Not only did he want to tame them now, but he also wanted to get rid of the gentry from the roots.
For this, he had two preparations. Popularize education so that education would not become a monopolized resource. He also had to establish military schools to strengthen the military to fight against the possible rise of civil officials.
No one knew how the Emperor thought of such a move, and no one knew what kind of mood the Emperor was in to push through such a decree. They only knew that something they did not even dare to dream of had really happened and succeeded.
Rumor had it that the Emperor was preparing to implement the Mausoleum System that had been implemented in the Early Han Dynasty. He would deal with the local rich families like harvesting leeks to prevent the possibility of local power growing and the possibility of the local demanding power from the central government.
The tax policy also made it clear that the local government had no right to manage. All tax collectors were central government officials and were sent by the central government to the local government. They did not belong to the local government and formed their own system. They had their own transportation policies and were controlled by the local investigation and audit departments sent by the central government to the local government.
The local government allocated salaries and daily expenses to the officials. Each had a fixed amount and would be kept in the local treasury. The rest would be handed over to the central government and used by the central government.
For emergencies, the central government also set up tax and grain warehouses to store a certain amount of tax and grain. They were all managed by the central government. If the local government wanted to use it in an emergency, it had to report to the central government. They were not allowed to take it privately.
They would rather reduce efficiency than allow the local government to interfere with tax collection. They would further restrict the local government's power and keep the local government under the strict control of the central government.
She had to choose the lesser of two evils. Without the help of modern technology, Xiao Ruxun had to choose the one with the lesser harm and shorter duration from the two difficult decisions.
The expansion of local power and the decline of central power are destructive.
For this reason, the scale of the central government of Daqin was greatly expanded compared to that of the former Ming Dynasty. More and more officials received their salaries from the central government instead of the local government. They belonged to the central government instead of the local government.
Becoming an official in the central government was the aspiration of all local officials, and the local government had also dispatched a large number of officials from the central government to divide the local authority. The officials of the Black Poison began to spread out in the name of the Audit Department and the Investigation Department, becoming another pair of eyes and ears for Xiao Ruxun in the local areas.
The construction of Dazhi Road was accelerated, expanding from Beijing in all directions. It was like an arm of the central government, expanding from the central government to the local areas, embracing the entire territory of Daqin.
After the main road of the Great Chi Road was repaired, there would be branch roads that would spread to the surrounding important cities. From point to line, a reliable transportation network would be formed. This would further strengthen the connection between various regions, promote the development of economic exchanges, and also strengthen the control of the local area.
With a reliable transportation network, the speed of information transmission would increase by at least one-third. This one-third might not seem significant, but at critical moments, if one knew the news earlier than the enemy, they would be able to make arrangements earlier, seize the initiative, and forestall the enemy.
In the process of completing these tasks, Xiao Ruxun could clearly feel what it meant by the saying "the sky is high and the emperor is far away."
He could feel to what extent the authority of the central government in the local areas had declined, and how the local people knew there was a country, but they did not know where it was.
They had no idea of the concept of an entire country. Some thought it was the world, some thought it was the imperial court, some thought it was the emperor, and some thought it was the capital.
The concept was chaotic, the people's hearts were lax, and manpower and material resources could not be integrated when needed.
The local officials of the Ming Dynasty could not even go to the real places, and their management of the local areas was extremely limited. Once something happened, they would have to rely on the imperial court to deploy troops and the help of the local squires.
If this chaotic and disorderly state continued to be maintained, it might seem fine, but when it came to the critical moment of the national war, the country would be destroyed. It was like a huge elephant being swallowed by a snake, and it seemed absurd, but in fact, it was inevitable.
Xiao Ruxun had more than once explained this principle to the central officials in the cabinet meeting, and explained the inevitability and legitimacy of strengthening the centralization of power. He asked the central officials to be in step with him, to coordinate the local areas, and to tell the central officials how much power they had in their hands.
"Now, there are no local forces, and whatever you say, the local areas will do. There are no constraints, no discounts, and the transmission of government decrees is normal. Therefore, any policy must be formulated carefully, taking into account all aspects, and handed over to the imperial court to discuss. After receiving inquiries from all sides, choose a place to carry out the experiment, and after the experiment, promote the policy."
It was better if Xiao Ruxun didn't mention the implementation rules of the new decree of the central departments, but after he made it clear, the officials who came from the former Ming Dynasty were deeply shocked.
After the reshuffle of the world's forces, the new rules began to operate, and everything was different from before. At the beginning of the new dynasty, their days were not easy at all.
They were so busy with all kinds of things that they didn't even have time to eat and sleep. Although the imperial court was constantly expanding and adding more manpower, and more and more capable officials were transferred to the central government to work, they still felt that there was not enough manpower.
However, the emperor didn't understand them at all. Not only did he have a lot of government affairs, but he also had to issue several decrees a day, and he also had to fight wars. After fighting here, there was another war, and the officials were so busy that they were dizzy and had no time to think about anything else. They could only do things.
It wasn't that people with discerning eyes didn't understand the emperor's intention in doing this. Other than really doing things, it was more because he didn't want them to have time to engage in political struggles, and they could only focus on doing things. Other than that, they couldn't do anything, and they shouldn't do anything.
It had been a year since the new dynasty was established, and it was the time to forge ahead. They didn't know if they were lucky or unlucky to encounter this era of great change.
From the central government to the local officials, they all had things to do, and every official had endless things to do. They would open their eyes and work, close their eyes and sleep.
The local officials were in charge of construction, population statistics, and managing the people and able-bodied men. The central officials coordinated the statistics, arranged the tasks, and were in charge of the inspection. All of Daqin was bustling with activity.
In this kind of bustling atmosphere, the war in the southwest was undoubtedly the hottest.
One hundred and sixty thousand Daqin soldiers and forty thousand native soldiers had gathered. There were also hundreds of thousands of civilian laborers transporting supplies and several hundred transport ships. Large numbers of mules, horses, and even donkeys and oxen were being used to transport supplies to the frontlines.
From the southeast to the southwest, the new officials of Daqin underwent an extremely rigorous examination. The low-level officials who had just arrived at the local level had to display their abilities. If anything went wrong, they would be harshly held accountable.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
