My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 215 The Conception of the Civil Service Examination
"Frankish?"

Su Ze thought of a possibility and then asked:

"But did the prince buy slaves from the Portuguese?"

Now it was Zhu Yijun's turn to be surprised. He looked at Su Ze and said:
"Everyone says that Master Su can predict the future from afar. Do you really have such supernatural powers?"

What kind of supernatural powers? You've been watching too much Journey to the West!
Seeing Xiaopang Jun's eager expression, Su Ze immediately said:
"I have no supernatural powers. It's just that Your Highness first said that Penghu was short of people, and now you say that the Crown Prince has found Portuguese. I also heard that these Portuguese are selling natives in Southeast Asia, so I made the connection."

Little Fatty Jun looked disappointed, but he still got down to business.

“Master is right. When my uncle approached the Portuguese, they immediately gave their assurances and brought in a large number of natives from Southeast Asia.”

Good guy.

Today, the Portuguese colonized Malacca and established many spice plantations in the Luzon region, and the trade in native slaves was one of their businesses.

However, the natives of Southeast Asia could only sell these slaves in the Southeast Asian region; other places did not like these lazy slaves, so the market size was never large and no network of black slave trade was formed.

However, for sugarcane plantations, these indigenous people from Southeast Asia were a very good source of labor.

They originally lived in tropical regions, were resistant to tropical diseases, were not afraid of mosquitoes, and were adapted to the plantation climate.

Sugarcane is a common crop in Southeast Asia. It is not difficult to grow and process, and production is relatively simple. The only busy time is during the sugarcane harvest. The only technical job is making raw sugar on the plantation, which the locals can also do.

Su Ze silently uttered "sin" to himself. Li Wenquan had inadvertently started the colonial slave trade, and he didn't know how he would be judged in the future.

However, Su Ze knew that in this era, the people of the Ming Dynasty had no moral burden regarding the slave trade.

Even the most benevolent and virtuous Ming Dynasty officials would not have treated the natives of Southeast Asia as commoners.

In the minds of the literati, the Han Chinese of the Ming Dynasty were considered first-class, while the Mongols of the north were barely considered opponents, and could be considered second-class.

The others are just two-legged creatures.

Zhu Yijun was planning his two major ventures: sugar production and sugarcane winemaking. He was eager to make a name for himself in these two key products.
-
Su Ze had no interest in the sugarcane plantations thousands of miles away; he focused his energy on promoting the "Official Examination."

Luo Wanhua went to Zhigu a while ago and finally returned to the newspaper office today. Su Ze naturally handed over the work at hand to him.

"Brother Zilin, Zhigu has only been open to foreign trade for a short time, but it's already a bustling hub for merchants! Take a look at this newspaper!"

Su Ze took the newspaper from Luo Wanhua's hand, the Commercial Daily?
Luo Wanhua had the inaugural issue, which had only four pages in total.

Like other newspapers, the first page featured current affairs news, but the articles in the Business Daily were all related to business, with the front-page article being an analysis of the new port and maritime tax policy.

The second edition featured news about commodities from Zhigu and Denglai. The people who ran the newspaper had put in a lot of effort, compiling statistics on the prices of bulk commodities in Denglai, Zhigu, and the capital, and even making price forecasts for the commodities. Su Ze exclaimed how professional they were after reading it.

This world is certainly not lacking in smart people.

The third edition introduces new products and technologies on the market, with the front page featuring a new combing machine from a workshop.

Su Ze looked at it carefully; the combing machine was used to spin yarn.

The wool used now needs to be combed open with a fine comb to turn it into fine cashmere fibers that are aligned in the same direction, and then these cashmere fibers are twisted into yarn.

Traditional wool combing requires manual labor, which is time-consuming and laborious, and the wool produced is uneven, resulting in a wide range of quality.

This type of combing machine uses a roller structure. Simply add wool after driving the rollers, and the combing process can be completed automatically.

The newspaper also published the workshop's address at the end, and those who wanted to buy the machine could contact the workshop owner.

Isn't this just a soft advertisement?
But upon closer inspection, this advertisement is quite clever.

Those who buy the Commercial Gazette must be merchants. Once Anda's tribute mission is completed, the scale of the wool trade will expand further.

Some businessmen are not satisfied with simply selling wool; industrial upgrading is the best way to make money.

Merchants buying machines to process wool into yarn is an inevitable choice.

The workshop that produces this combing machine will surely make a fortune.

Indeed, demand is the driving force behind innovation.

Actually, the structure of a combing machine is not difficult. Su Ze had also thought about it, but when he was promoting yarn, he was more concerned with degreasing and dyeing, so he did not develop a combing machine.

Now that folk artisans have figured it out themselves, it's much more effective than official promotion.

Degreasing and staining are much more complicated.

Wool must undergo a degreasing process to remove its fishy and muttony smell.

Suze is currently using an alkaline solution heated to wash the fur.

This involves heating a wood ash solution, using the alkali to react with the oils in the wool, and finally obtaining clean wool.

This method works fine when wool is relatively scarce, but if wool becomes more abundant, a more efficient alkali production method will be needed.

Su Ze was originally worried about this matter, but now that he saw that the people had developed their own combing machine, he relaxed.

As long as there is demand and the potential for profit, people will naturally invest in research.

Su Ze simply didn't believe that with so many intelligent people in the Ming Dynasty, driven by huge profits, they couldn't develop basic chemistry.
The last page of the newspaper is similar to a biography or interview, and the page is called "The Demeanor of Confucian Businessmen".

The first article introduces Fan Baoxian, the patriarch of the Fan clan in Shanxi. Su Ze thinks this is just a sycophantic article, and the Datong Fan clan must be behind this "Business Daily".

Moreover, the so-called Confucian merchant only introduces Fan Baoxian's "Confucian" aspects, such as being filial to his parents, taking care of his clan, treating his subordinates kindly, and persuading his children to study, while avoiding mentioning his "merchant" aspects.

However, Su Ze strongly supported this article, as it was the first newspaper to discuss business ethics after Su Ze proposed the "Four Classes of Morality".

Although the steps were few, at least some steps were taken.

Luo Wanhua said excitedly:

"Brother Zilin, what do you think of this business newspaper? Should we add a few new pages?"

Su Ze shook his head and said:

"Brother Yifu, do you think it's appropriate for us to publish these articles in the Yuefu Xinbao?"

Luo Wanhua was stunned for a moment and said:
"It does seem inappropriate."

Su Ze nodded and said:

“Our Yuefu Xinbao is an official newspaper, and its main readers are officials and scholars in the capital. Each newspaper only needs to serve its core readers well; trying to be big and all-encompassing will only make it difficult to serve everyone.”

Luo Wanhua showed an expression of learning; after taking over the Yuefu Xinbao, he always thought about making the newspaper bigger and stronger.

After listening to Su Ze's words today, it seems that this is indeed the case. It doesn't seem appropriate for official newspapers to publish articles promoting combing machines or to publish businessmen's autobiographies.

But Su Ze said:

"But the economy is also an important part of national governance; one could even say that the imperial court was built on silver dollars."

"Therefore, some financial information can also be published in the Yuefu Xinbao."

"financial?"

Su Ze nodded and said:

"For example, the destination of Shuntian Prefecture's tax revenue and the details of various government expenditures can all be published."

"The government should disclose to the people how much silver dollars it spent, where those silver dollars were spent, and how much silver dollars it collected."

"The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture is the official in charge of caring for the people of Shuntian Prefecture. Shouldn't he also disclose his family's public expenses to his children?"

Luo Wanhua agreed that it made a lot of sense. The accounts of Shuntian Prefecture were all required to be reported to the Ministry of Revenue. As Su Ze said, any official with the will could easily access this data. Therefore, disclosing this data to the readers of the Yuefu Xinbao was not a taboo matter.

Luo Wanhua went to handle the matter with great enthusiasm, while Su Ze leisurely headed to the cabinet.

In the side hall where the cabinet received guests, Gao Gong frowned and pondered after listening to Su Ze's idea for the "Civil Service Examination".

As the Minister of Personnel, Gao Gong naturally understood the issue of public and private officials.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a saying in official circles: "Poor officials should not be appointed to rich counties."

The wealthy county has many affairs and problems, as well as many wealthy families and complex local relationships.

If a poor official who has no money to hire staff goes to a wealthy county to take up his post alone, he will be manipulated and sidelined.

If a sudden event escalates local conflicts, even a poor official will have to take the blame.

Therefore, when the Ministry of Personnel selected officials, officials from poor families would be sent to places with poor conditions, because these places were known for their "simple and honest people".

Only an official like Hai Rui, who was incorruptible and could not be found guilty by local magistrates, and who was also extremely capable and could do the work of an entire staff, could achieve such success in a wealthy place.

Therefore, Hai Rui's promotion after serving as the magistrate of Chun'an was truly due to his exceptional abilities.

Gao Gong naturally understood the downsides of this.

This is detrimental to the entire bureaucracy of the empire.

Nowadays, wealthy scholars are mostly concentrated in the southeastern region.

Unless one passed the imperial examination to become a probationary official, ordinary successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations were required to serve in local government positions.

Whether one can achieve success in officialdom determines one's future prospects.

Poor officials, lacking the assistance of advisors, either collude with local officials and become tainted by corruption.

They either clash with local authorities or leave a bad impression of incompetence in the eyes of their superiors.

Over time, mid- to high-ranking officials in the bureaucracy became dominated by scholars from the southeastern region.

This is yet another battle between the North and South rankings.

Gao Gong understood the crux of the problem, but didn't know how to solve it.

Su Ze's proposed solution was indeed to the point.

But Gao Gong still asked the same question:

"The Ministry of Personnel can provide the quotas for these new officials, but where will their salaries come from?"

Su Ze said:

"Commercial tax".

Su Ze said:

“In ancient times, people only needed to cultivate the land, and officials in the localities were responsible for encouraging agriculture and promoting sericulture, so a county only needed a few officials.”

"But nowadays, there are many affairs to be done in the local areas of the Ming Dynasty, and merchants travel everywhere, so the county does not have enough manpower."

"Business travel has brought prosperity to the region, but it has also brought difficulties to local governance."

"The consensus in the court is to levy commercial taxes. Since commercial taxes are to be levied, specialized talents are needed. It is only natural to use this money to support new officials."

"This is also the virtue of a businessman."

This brings us back to what Su Ze has been referring to as the "morality of the four classes of people".

Gao Gong had to admit that Su Ze's theoretical system was self-consistent.

The population movement brought about by commerce has led to public security issues, and transactions between merchants have resulted in various legal problems and economic disputes.

New governance problems require new officials, and it makes sense for businessmen to bear this cost.

Su Ze said again:
"Therefore, I would like to first pilot this in Shuntian Prefecture, where commerce is thriving, and collect commercial taxes from Shuntian Prefecture to support these new officials."

Gao Gong agreed to Su Ze's plan in principle, and then asked:
"Who else did you talk to about the civil service examination?"

Su Ze immediately pledged his loyalty, saying:
"Of course, we discussed it with Master Xiang first."

Gao Gong revealed a satisfied expression. His disciple was good, but he wasn't as close to him as his other disciples.

However, in Gao Gong's view, competence was the most important thing. He continued:

"You still have the post of Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. You can bring it up at the Ministry of Revenue."

"In addition, Grand Secretary Zhao is your relative by marriage, so you can make some connections. If you really want to hold the civil service examination, the Ministry of Rites should also lend a hand."

Su Ze understood Gao Gong's implication: this meant he was allowed to contact Zhang Juzheng and work together to advance this matter.

Su Ze said quickly:

"Disciple accepts the order."
-
Su Ze did not ask Gao Gong about Ding Jingxuan's fate, but he went to the Ministry of Revenue after leaving the cabinet.

Ge Ye, the clerk of the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission, went out to run errands, so Wei Yun, Su Ze's old subordinate and the chief clerk, served him tea.

Wei Yun subtly flattered him, saying:
"With Su Zhonglang absent from the ministry, things have become much busier."

Su Ze readily accepted Wei Yun's overtures, and the affairs of the Shandong Division were carried out in an orderly manner. The transition between the two changes in leadership was seamless, and Wei Yun's ability to assist was beyond doubt.

His social skills and professional competence left a good impression on Su Ze.

After the pleasantries were over, Wei Yun said in a low voice:

"Master Su, are you aware of the matter concerning Ding, the Assistant Minister of the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Personnel?"

Su Ze pretended to be unaware and asked:

"I saw you during the joint meeting of the thirteen departments. What happened to Doctor Ding?"

Wei Yun whispered:

“Isn’t the Zhejiang Provincial Administration in charge of collecting gold and silver? Ding Langzhong was reported by his subordinates for embezzling part of the gold and silver. He also accepted bribes and arbitrarily exempted some prefectures and counties in the Southern Zhili region from the gold and silver owed by them.”

"I heard that the Sixth Bureau has obtained conclusive evidence, and His Majesty is furious. He has already ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to arrest and imprison Ding Jingxuan."

Good heavens, Su Ze never expected Zhang Juzheng's revenge to be so swift and ruthless.

The gold and silver were to be deposited into the emperor's private treasury; they were "my money."

Ding Jingxuan is incredibly audacious; he even dares to embezzle the emperor's money.

He was greedy, but he didn't do it properly, which gave Zhang Juzheng a handle to use against him.

Even the good-tempered Emperor Longqing was furious and used the Embroidered Uniform Guard to arrest him and imprison him in the long-unused Imperial Prison. It can only be said that Ding Jingxuan has made his mark on history in a certain sense.

"Is Grand Secretary Zhang in the Ministry of Revenue?"

"Yes, does Su Zhonglang request to see Grand Secretary Zhang?"

Su Ze looked at Wei Yun and said:

"However, there is something I need to discuss with Chief Steward Wei first."

(End of this chapter)