Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 216 Efficiency and centralization are ultimately mutually exclusive.

Uncle Fu limped over and slowly unloaded the plow from the horse's back, then slowly put it back on. The old horse didn't want to work and struggled several times, but couldn't break free of the harness. So its legs gave way and it collapsed.

Uncle Fu cursed loudly, brandishing his whip but hesitating to strike. This wasn't his horse; he had rented it from the government for three coins a day, which was very cheap, but he couldn't damage it. If any injuries were found, he would have to pay compensation. Whip marks were also unacceptable; the horse had to be well-fed before being returned.

"You beast, how could you be so lazy! If I had known, I would have spent three extra coins to borrow an ox instead of renting you!" Uncle Fu shouted.

However, the old horse ignored it, its face pressed to the ground, its eyes fixed on the newly sprouted grass shoots. It tried to reach them with its thick lips, but found the shoots too short to pull off, and became even more discouraged.

He couldn't hit her, and scolding her was useless. Fu Bo had no strength left, so he could only stand with his hands on his hips and watch Li Yatou work.

“Li Dalang, why don’t you rent a beast of burden? The price isn’t expensive, and the government even gives you credit. If you try to work yourself, you’ll just make yourself sick,” Uncle Fu said.

Li Yatou smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "I've rented before, but I don't know how to use it."

"Can't you use it?! How can you not know how to use livestock? How can such a grown man not know how to use livestock?!" Uncle Fu muttered to himself.

Li Yatou felt even more embarrassed. She could only console herself by saying, "I was born in the city. I have never farmed, never seen, and never learned about farming."

"Xianghe County?! Wait, wasn't that city captured by the Jurchens? How did you survive?!"

"No, it's Tongzhou City."

"Tongzhou City?! That's the prefectural city, isn't it? How big is it? Why aren't you staying in the prefectural city? What are you doing here?!" Uncle Fu continued to ask.

Li Yatou felt a little uncomfortable. He was so thirsty from working that he had no time to chat with Uncle Fu, but it would be impolite not to answer his elders' questions, so he had to keep talking.

"Tongzhou, that's a prefecture city, not a county seat, but it's quite large. It's about three miles from the east to the west of the city. Only wealthy families can enjoy life in the city. My family works in the city. I heard there's land available for rent here, and the rent isn't too expensive, so I'd like to try farming."

Uncle Fu nodded slightly, then stared at Li Yatou for a long time before suddenly asking, "Li Dalang, you're not married yet, are you? Do you want a wife?!"

"Huh?!" Li Ya's head exploded with a buzz.

"Could it be that you already have a wife?!" Uncle Fu frowned.

"No, no, I'm not married yet!" Li Yatou hurriedly clarified.

“I have a daughter who is now a widow. She had two daughters, one of whom survived. Now her husband’s family refuses to keep her and they’re making a scene. If you are willing to marry her, her husband’s family is willing to use eight taels of silver to redeem her husband’s land. This eight taels of silver will be my daughter’s dowry. What do you think?” Uncle Fu asked with a hopeful look on his face.

“Yes, yes, I’m willing to marry him! Um, but…” Li Yatou lowered her head in self-consciousness when she thought about her physical condition. After thinking it over, she finally mustered up the courage to tell Uncle Fu about it.

When Uncle Fu heard that the son-in-law he had finally chosen was a bald man, he was speechless for a moment. But seeing that his son-in-law was as strong as an ox and had a full beard, he didn't seem like a congenitally castrated man. So he suggested that he check the goods and give his daughter a heads-up. So, Li Yatou took off her pants, and the two grown men began to examine his penis together.

It was a false alarm! Uncle Fu patted Li Yatou on the shoulder with satisfaction and told her that she was perfectly fine and that doing *that* was not affected at all!

"Really? Uncle Fu, you're not lying to me?!"

Li Yatou was still somewhat insecure. He was an honest man who had never even been to a brothel. He had been ridiculed for it since childhood, which made him very insecure. The reason he left Tongzhou was to change places and leave behind those familiar people he knew so well. "You used to call me Uncle Fu, but what should you call me now?!" Uncle Fu said with a smile.

"Your son-in-law greets your father-in-law!" This time, Li Yatou didn't lose her mind and knelt down on the ground with a thud.

“A son-in-law is like half a son, come here, let me teach you how to use a plow.” Uncle Fu pulled Li Yatou to his plot of land and said, “This kind of land can’t be done without livestock. Relying on manpower, even the best young man would be exhausted. You’ve never farmed before, so you don’t understand. This is top-quality land. In the past, people like us never had the chance to get such good land. You’re lucky to have been born in such a good time…”

Li Yatou felt that something was wrong, but because she was so happy that she was about to have a wife, she didn't think much of it.

……

Xianghe County was reduced to a wasteland, with not only its inhabitants migrating from other places, but also its county officials being transferred elsewhere. Naturally, a special place like Xianghe County was given a unique mission: the emperor needed it to become a model county for public rental land.

It's a mess, and the requirements are high. It's not a good place for officials. Only those who are particularly confident in themselves and eager to seek promotion will come here. If they succeed, their career will be bright; otherwise, they will waste their lives. It's no less than a gamble.

This person was none other than Xu Yuanfang, a minor official who had received the emperor's favor and was eager to repay it.

He had already been promoted to a regular position in the Ministry of Justice, serving as a seventh-rank official in the Ministry of Justice's Records Department. If he had simply accumulated experience step by step, he might have eventually become a court official. However, he still applied for a transfer to a county outside the capital. In fact, there were many counties in Beizhili that were short of magistrates, but he had neither money nor connections, and was ultimately assigned to the worst one.

Xu Yuanfang didn't have much talent for being an official. All he could do was be more unafraid of hardship and fatigue than others, and be more conscientious in his duties.

When he was a clerk in the Hanlin Academy, he did not steal waste paper from the imperial court to sell for money; now that he is a seventh-rank county magistrate, he still does not allow himself to be corrupt, nor does he allow his subordinates to be corrupt.

He really didn't know much about being an official. In Xianghe County, before it was massacred by the Jurchens, if he dared to touch a minor official, the officials would have given him a sufficiently serious warning that very day!
Officials in the capital were indeed quite different from local officials. In some ways, compared to local officials, officials in the capital were so naive that it was almost laughable.

When Xu Yuanfang worked in the Hanlin Academy and the Ministry of Justice, he was just a small cog in a huge organization; but when he became a county magistrate, he had to make most of the decisions himself, which brought constant troubles and enemies from all sides.

Zhu Youjian was well aware that the Ming Dynasty's official system had problems, but he didn't have any good solutions. He could only increase supervision, arrest those who needed to be arrested, and punish those who needed to be punished.

Ignoring it is certainly not an option, but it's unrealistic to think that killing a few people will magically make all the officials under your command become honest and upright.

Regarding the system, he worked on it for over two years but made little progress; what he implemented was essentially still rule by man. The military was under the control of Zhu Xieyuan, and the civil officials were kept in close watch by Bi Ziyan.

But different emperors lead different armies. Zhu Youjian himself lacked a strong enough approach, and Bi Ziyan, as the Grand Secretary and nominal head of the civil service, could only do so much, focusing on rewards and punishments rather than actual killing, thus lacking sufficient deterrent power. His advantage, however, was his exceptional auditing skills; his accounting methods were superb, and he was always right.

Locally, it's more accurate to describe the relationship with the vast southern regions as one of cooperation rather than rule, as Zhu Youjian's control over these areas is not strong.

The area under the strongest control of the imperial court was Beizhili, which was now under the supervision of Lu Xiang-sheng. He had extensive experience in fighting corruption; when he was the prefect of Daming Prefecture, he had managed to keep his subordinate officials and local gentry in line. People who are both capable in battle and cultured are so difficult to deal with, not to mention that he now commands a large army.

After the war, many people suggested disbanding Lu Xiang-sheng's militia, but Zhu Youjian still retained a force of three thousand men for him, allowing him to select the elite among them to form an army. Then, he led his troops to inspect and reorganize the workplaces in various prefectures of Beizhili.

In short, his duties were numerous and his authority was ambiguous, but he wielded great power and could meddle in everything. Although he did not hold the title of Governor-General, he was the de facto Governor-General of Beizhili.

Emperor Xuanzong (Li Longji) trusted An Lushan, appointing him as the military governor of three towns, which led to the An Lushan Rebellion. Similarly, the officials appointed by Emperor Xuanzong (Zhu Youjian) wielded boundless power without checks and balances, clearly a path to ruin!
Because of these reasons, he received numerous memorials from his subordinates advising him against his actions, but he remained obstinate. How can one have both? Efficiency and centralized power are ultimately mutually exclusive.

Zhu Youjian knew exactly how bad he was; if it weren't for his god-like perspective, he probably wouldn't have survived even one episode in the Ming Dynasty! His current status was purely due to cheating!
(End of this chapter)