Chapter 217: The novel is so well written that Zhu is too immersed in the story. It is difficult to be a county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Gang wants to investigate the administration of officials.
While Zhu Yuanzhang was talking, Zhu Biao could not wait to pick up the book "Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth Li Shanchang" again and started flipping through it quickly.

As the pages of the book turned, Zhu Biao's face became more and more ugly, and his heart became more and more frightened.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao expressionlessly and said slowly, "Biao'er, this book was written by your younger brother Zhu Gang."

"what?"

Before Zhu Biao could speak, Zhu Di, who was standing not far away, widened his eyes.

He said with a look of disbelief: "Why would Third Brother slander Uncle like this?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"Humph, the Third Brother has always been eyeing our throne. His move is nothing more than an attempt to take down Li Shanchang and weaken the Crown Prince's power."

Zhu Biao was so angry that he was shaking all over. He threw the book in his hand to the ground and shouted angrily: "Dad, this is too ridiculous!

My uncle and my third brother are both loyal to the court and will never betray us!"

Zhu Yuanzhang patted Zhu Biao on the shoulder and said earnestly: "We naturally know the character of our own family members, but the hearts of people in the court are complicated and difficult to guess, so there are some things we have to guard against.

Biao'er, you must be careful of those arrogant and brave generals like Lan Yu in the future, and never take them lightly."

At this moment, Zhu Di took the book "Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth Li Shanchang" and read it carefully from beginning to end.

"Dad, after all, this is a novel based on real life. You really don't need to be too involved."

If Zhu Yuanzhang was just wary of Lan Yu, Zhu Di would never step in to mediate.

After all, Lan Yu often spoke ill of Zhu Biao, the Prince of Yan, to him.

In contrast, although Zhu Gang changed his fiefdom to the south of Tubo, both of them would have to go overseas to serve Tubo in the future.

If you build a good relationship now, you will at least have someone to look after you when you need help in the future.

The most important thing is that the last time he "acted" with his elder brother to rescue Lan Yu, he almost got beaten to pieces by Zhu Yuanzhang.

If you choose to follow your father's words at this time, you might end up being held accountable in the future.

Zhu Biao also knew that his father was worried about discord among the brothers. After all, according to the current situation, it seemed that a situation of "five dragons ruling under the same rule" had been formed.

"Dad, what the fourth brother said is absolutely right, the third brother's loyalty is evident to all.

Besides, he will lead the army to attack the Northern Yuan Dynasty after the new year, so it is not appropriate to cause trouble at this critical moment."

Zhu Yuanzhang said helplessly: "Biao'er, it seems that you have misunderstood my idea.

As the saying goes, heroes are revealed in times of crisis.

The Third Brother's actions in the past year can definitely be regarded as a role model among the princes.

But before he left the capital, he told me that he wanted to publish this book "Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth Li Shanchang" through the Ming Commercial Bookstore.

You have also seen the plots in the book, which are bound to cause people with ulterior motives to slander the King of Jin."

Zhu Biao frowned and said, “Third brother is probably trying to weaken his prestige among the people and the court in this way.

This will show that he has no ambition to take the throne, and it will also prevent those with ulterior motives from using the reputation of the Prince of Jin to make a fuss. "

As we all know, the emperor not only represents the highest power of a dynasty, but also can monopolize resources and power in economy, politics, culture and war. It can be said that he has supreme power and pleasure.

Moreover, although the princes had certain property and status, their treatment was far different from that of the emperor.

For example, in order to satisfy his personal preference for eating shad, the emperor could mobilize a large amount of manpower and material resources, while the princes could only live by themselves on the banks of the Yangtze River.

If it were in the past, Zhu Yuanzhang would not have worried that Zhu Gang would "crown him with the yellow robe".

After all, there was no reference point for him to let his imagination run wild. But ever since Zhu Yuanzhang sent the novel "Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth Li Shanchang" to the palace, he had developed a filter for the "villains" in it.

If Zhu Biao and Zhu Di had not advised him in time today, he would probably have been possessed by demons in his subconscious mind again.

"Third brother, you are worrying too much. Our Ming Dynasty is rich and powerful. How can we not accommodate a vassal king with a large army?"

At this time, Zhu Gang and his party had arrived in Lishui County, located in the south of Yingtian Prefecture.

"Not far away is Wuxiang Temple, one of the 480 temples of the Southern Dynasties. It is said that around the temple are the remains of Du Fuwei, a general of the peasant rebel army at the end of the Sui Dynasty, stationing his troops.

If Your Highness Prince Jin is not in a hurry to leave, I am willing to accompany you to have a look."

Seeing Feng Cheng eager to try, Zhu Gang said to Wang Chengji, the magistrate of Lishui County who was standing beside him, "I heard that near Wuxiang Temple, there is the stone pagoda where the Song Dynasty monk Zhen Gong buried his bones, the Stone Guanyin Cave, and the Zhaoyun Pavilion from the Yuan Dynasty.

If Magistrate Wang has time, I would like to visit all these places."

During the Hongwu period, Zhu Yuanzhang did not attach much importance to the status of Jinshi, and promotions often focused on political achievements rather than qualifications.

Even a county magistrate who was a Jinshi graduate could only rise slowly.

Therefore, those newly-minted scholars were often very nervous, fearing that they would be sent out to serve as county magistrates.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty's county system also had many drawbacks, some of which were quite serious.

There are at least four serious problems summarized by later historians.

First, the ratio of county officials to county clerks in the Ming Dynasty was extremely unreasonable.

A county government office had no more than four officials, who had to deal with various instructions and inspections from the six ministries and the provincial and prefectural governments.

It is also necessary to effectively rule over hundreds of thousands of people in the county in terms of finance, criminal law, schools, morality, and production.

As a result, the county government was controlled by a group of officials, which eventually led to a chaotic situation in which administrators had no power and those with power were not administrative decision-makers.

Second, the first item on the list of things to check on the performance of county officials during the Ming Dynasty was collecting taxes, which was actually forcing officials to oppress the people.

In order to complete the conscription mission, county magistrates in various places did not care about the lives of the people.

Originally, there was land tax only when there was land, but by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the amount of land in the country had been reduced by half.

The lost land was all embezzled by bureaucrats, gentry, and landlords through means such as flying and sending fraudulent letters.

However, although the surplus land was lost, the land tax could not be reduced at all, so the county magistrate pushed the loss onto the farmers.

Third, the way the Daming County Court handled cases was very dark.

The outcome of a lawsuit is often not determined by right or wrong, but by the amount of the bribe and the extent of power.

Once ordinary people are involved in lawsuits, their families will be broken up and their lives will be ruined.

The first expense is writing the complaint and hiring a lawyer. Without hiring a lawyer, you are bound to lose the case.

Secondly, he had to bribe the clerk, and then bribe the county magistrate through the clerk.

During the Ming Dynasty, there were almost no county magistrates who truly served the people, were honest and upright, and spoke for the people.

Fourth, there were too many "mother-in-laws" in charge of county governments in the Ming Dynasty.

There are "lines" in which the six central ministries directly intervene in local government affairs, there are "blocks" in which the provinces and prefectures are the immediate superiors of the counties, and there are even various types of censors and imperial envoys from the central government.

The reason why Zhu Gang chose to delay time in Lishui County was mainly to investigate Wang Chengji and his officials.

Whether there was any case of embezzlement of excess land, and whether the six ministries and the censors were arbitrarily interfering in county affairs.

(End of this chapter)