Chapter 939: The Emperor Taught Me Again

Zhu Yijun picked up the teacup and started drinking again. He lowered his head and thought for a while, and found that he had explained it very thoroughly and in detail. The subsequent implementation would depend on their understanding and execution ability.

Xu Zhenming, Wang Zongzai and Chen Dake had finished taking notes. They looked up and looked at Zhu Yijun eagerly for knowledge.

“We are already very experienced in implementing new policies.

You, the Shandong Provincial Government, should first set up an Agricultural Cooperation Bureau, and then select a few counties in northwest Shandong, east Shandong, west Shandong, and south Shandong to set up a number of agricultural cooperatives as pilot units.

We will start with a pilot project, summarize experience, learn lessons, and actively improve in the actual operation process. After two or three years of stability, we will expand agricultural cooperatives one by one. “

Wang Zongzai raised a crucial question: “Your Majesty, the Shandong Provincial Government has established the Shandong Agricultural Cooperative Bureau as a commercial unit, and local agricultural cooperatives will serve as its subsidiaries, with independent accounting and self-financing.

Then the cabinet will set up the Northern Agricultural Cooperative Bureau Group Company to manage the Shandong, Hebei and other agricultural cooperative bureaus. Then I have one question: by then, will the Shandong Agricultural Cooperative Bureau’s in-laws be the Shandong Provincial Government or the Northern Agricultural Cooperative Bureau Group? “

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, “This is a good question, Wang Futai!

Many commercial enterprises were thriving at the beginning, but eventually went bankrupt. Why? Because the property rights were unclear, and the mothers-in-law came to interfere and take advantage of the situation.

Why did I emphasize from the beginning that the Agricultural Cooperative Bureau and the Agricultural Cooperative are commercial units and business legal entities, and that everything should be operated in accordance with the business rules?
They are worried that the Agricultural Cooperative Bureau and the cooperatives will become administrative units, and that officials of all ranks will come and give orders and show off their power.

Many of our officials pretend to know everything, take on everything, and take the credit for any achievements. But when problems arise, they just walk away, as if it had nothing to do with them.

The agricultural cooperative system was established to solve the livelihood problems of the vast majority of farmers and to guide them towards prosperity.

It is not a platform for certain officials to show off their power and seek credit.

Therefore, property rights must be clearly defined. It is a joint-stock limited liability company, and the largest shareholders are the vast number of farmers who have become members.

Of course, the Shandong Provincial Government can use part of the government-owned land, forests, and lakes as shares, become a shareholder, hold part of the shares, and legitimately exercise shareholder rights.

But the Shandong Provincial Government is exercising supervisory power.”

Zhu Yijun’s words shocked Wang Zongzai and Chen Dake.

Regulatory power is a type of administrative power.

“Agricultural cooperatives are commercial companies.

Then the Shandong Municipal Administration Bureau has the power to supervise whether it is operating legally within Shandong?
Why must the Chief Secretary be the mother-in-law of the Agricultural Cooperatives Bureau? Being a mother-in-law means you have to take care of everything. Do you have the ability to take care of everything? “

Wang Zongzai and Chen Dake looked at each other and shook their heads silently.

“The same goes for the cabinet. The Northern Agricultural Cooperatives Bureau Group is a joint-stock enterprise and a collectively owned economic entity. How can the cabinet be its mother-in-law?
The cabinet is only responsible for exercising administrative power and supervising whether the Northern Agricultural Cooperative Bureau Group is operating legally and paying taxes according to regulations. “

Wang Zongzai and Chen Dake both understood what Zhu Yijun said.

“Your Majesty, I will obey your command.”

Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, “I have already told you the method. The most important thing for you now is not to copy and build agricultural cooperatives and agricultural cooperative bureaus, but to think carefully about how to get more farmers to voluntarily join the cooperatives.”

Wang Zongzai and Chen Dake thought silently, yes, this is the biggest problem.

Joining an agricultural cooperative is an unprecedented move, and the people must be very nervous and hesitant.

Use administrative means?
Certainly not.

The emperor is watching!
We agreed to join the society voluntarily and leave the society voluntarily.

If we don’t use administrative means, what else can we use?
Chen Dake thought for a while and said, “Your Majesty, I think the Provincial Government should select six to ten pilot areas throughout the province, and then cooperate with the Agricultural Reclamation Bureau to organize advanced members of farms such as Baiyun Lake to go to these pilot areas to preach about the prosperous life on the farms and whet the appetite of the people.

At the same time, the Propaganda Department organized writers to write more than a dozen plays to promote the benefits of the farm, and organized forty to sixty opera propaganda teams to go to the countryside, focusing on those pilot areas.

We use the bangzi opera, string opera, qin and zheng opera and other opera forms that are popular among people from all over Shandong to carry out in-depth publicity to the general public.

After three to six months of publicity, the benefits of farms will be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Then, we will set up agricultural cooperatives in the form of farms in various parts of Shandong and recruit the majority of farmers to join. “

Zhu Yijun nodded and agreed: “This idea is correct.

Local officials should stop bullying and abuse their power arbitrarily. The more they do this, the less people will trust them.

You come here so forcefully, is there a trap?
Ordinary people are not stupid and they can think about things.

Only through propaganda, we can first tell the farmers the benefits of agricultural cooperatives and create a good atmosphere. Everyone wants to live a prosperous life. Who among the people does not want to live a good life like Baiyun Lake Farm?

Agricultural cooperatives are heading in this direction.

If you explain this principle clearly, the people will naturally understand it. As the director of the Civilization Guidance Committee, you should report your ideas to Feng Pangong and ask him to fully cooperate with you.

When it comes to evangelism, Lord Feng Pan is very experienced and has many skills.”

“I obey your command.” Chen Dake responded happily.

Wang Zongzai mentioned an important matter, “Your Majesty, I have an unwelcome request.”

“explain.”

“I beg the emperor to ask Eunuch Yang to select a group of outstanding talents from the Shandong Agricultural Reclamation Bureau to the Provincial Government to help us set up an agricultural cooperation bureau and agricultural cooperatives, and to successfully pilot the agricultural cooperation model.”

Zhu Yijun pointed at Wang Zongzai and said to Xu Zhenming and Pan Yinglong with great satisfaction: “Father Wang has grasped the key issue. It is a vital issue!”

Zhu Yijun said solemnly to Wang Zongzai and Chen Dake: “After the strategy is finalized, the most important thing is the issue of officials. Without capable officials to implement it, it is useless to make a brilliant plan.

If the pilot project of the agricultural cooperation model fails and ends up in a mess, the people from all over the country will see it and feel disappointed. No matter how hard you promote it, the people will not join.

If the pilot is successful, the cooperative will be prosperous, the member farmers will have full granaries and pockets filled with money, and the people around will see it, which will be more effective than you beating drums and gongs to perform 100 or 300 propaganda plays!” Wang Zongzai and Chen Dake stood up and saluted respectfully: “I sincerely ask the emperor to grant a little grace to the Shandong Agricultural Cooperative.”

“Jinshui, this is a big deal.

The success of the agricultural cooperation pilot project in Shandong is related to whether hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty can share the dividends of the times and embark on the road of common prosperity together in the new era.

You have to take it seriously.”

“I will immediately arrange for the Shandong Agricultural Reclamation Bureau to mobilize as many capable soldiers as possible to fully support the Shandong Agricultural Cooperative.”

Xu Zhenming and Pan Yinglong could not help but sigh that the emperor was very far-sighted when he appointed the Shaofu to supervise the reform.

At that time, the Shaofujian was considered to be a heretic and a perverse person in the eyes of many orthodox scholars and officials.

Unexpectedly, it actually blazed many new trails for the Ming Dynasty’s industrial, agricultural and commercial reforms, and accumulated many talents and rich experience. Luan workers and Lu merchants are the most typical examples.

Now the Ming Dynasty’s new agricultural reform will learn from and draw talent from the agricultural reclamation system of the Shaofujian.

But Pan Yinglong thought more.

After Wang Zongzai and Chen Dake said goodbye and left, Pan Yinglong asked Zhu Yijun questions frankly.

“Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty has implemented the Wanli New Deal. Industry, commerce, finance, and transportation, including railways, have all developed in the form of enterprises and become the mainstay of the Ming Dynasty’s economy.

Now, new agriculture is being developed in the form of agricultural cooperatives and in the model of enterprise development. Once successful, the agricultural main body of the Ming Dynasty will undergo earth-shaking changes. It will no longer be based on small-scale peasant economy of individual households, but will be independent in the form of agricultural cooperatives and will no longer have much relationship with local governments.

Your Majesty, separate industry and agriculture, and the county governments will only have the service duties that Your Majesty mentioned.”

Zhu Yijun laughed loudly, “Fengwu, you are better than Wang Zongzai and Chen Dake. They seem to be standing on the Lotus Mountain in Jinan and looking far away, but you are standing on Mount Tai and looking far away.

Yes, I did this on purpose.

Grassroots work is the most difficult, why? Because there are too many mothers-in-law, and the responsibility is passed down from one level to another, with the least power but the greatest responsibility.

Of course, the least power refers to the entire imperial court structure, but to ordinary people, it has greater power than anything else.

It is also the most difficult to supervise. Corrupt officials exploit the people, their methods are covert, and they hide in daily life, making it difficult to detect.

But the harm is the greatest because they are directly facing the people, and if they make things difficult for them, the people will suffer terribly.

The previous collection of taxes is a particularly obvious example.

The fixed quota for land tax is one shi and tax is one tael, but the corrupt clerks only collected ten shi and ten taels.

Above him were Zhang Xiang, Zhao Gong (Zhao Zhenji), and Hai Gong (Hai Rui), and below him were Wang Yi’e, Yin Zhengmao, Ling Yunyi, Song Yingchang, Liu Yupu and others. They went back and forth to make arrangements, and at the peak period, they killed thousands of clerks a year.

But like weeds, they grow back in the spring breeze. Hundreds of similar cases are still discovered every year, and there are countless more that are not discovered.

How to do? “

Pan Yinglong somewhat understood Zhu Yijun’s thinking. The emperor was trying to cut off the source of the problem.

“Previously, there were few cases of corruption and abuse of power by clerks in taxation of industrial and commercial, transportation and financial enterprises. Why? Because they were all corporate actions. The taxation bureau directly dealt with the manufacturing bureau, transportation bureau and banks, and the taxes were all paid into bank accounts.

It would be extremely difficult for the clerks to manipulate the situation.

The same is true for the Agricultural Reclamation Bureau, where the land tax is collected directly from the farm and stored in the warehouse. Is there corruption or misappropriation? Of course there is. But compared with the previous situation of collecting grain tax at the local level, it is a world of difference.

The same is true for the new agricultural construction in the Ming Dynasty. Agricultural cooperatives are enterprises. In the future, agricultural taxes will change from personal behavior to corporate behavior, and the enterprises will complete the collection and withholding and pay them directly.

The tax bureau is responsible for supervision and acceptance.

There is no perfect policy in the world. We can only avoid problems to the greatest extent possible by making the best use of our strengths and avoiding our weaknesses, making it more difficult to commit crimes and easier to detect, and then punishing them severely. ”

When Zhu Yijun said this, he felt something in his heart.

“My idea is very simple. I want to try my best to prevent local governments from taking on the responsibility of economic development, and let these responsibilities be taken on by business groups and handed over to the market as much as possible.

Local governments are more responsible for dealing with social issues and people’s livelihood.

As for centralization, the higher up the court, the greater the power, and naturally the more responsibilities they have to bear. The lower down the court, the less power they have, and naturally their responsibilities must be reduced, so that they can more easily face the people and serve the people. “

Xu Zhenming and Pan Yinglong stood up, bowed and said solemnly: “Your Majesty is very knowledgeable and your words are very profound. We are deeply impressed by your teachings and have gained a lot of insights.”

There is a Zhaoyang Lake in the southwest of Teng County, east of Yutai, north of Pei County, and west of the Grand Canal. It was formed when the Yellow River broke through Caozhou and Pei County during the Jiajing period and caused siltation.

During the Longqing period, Pan Jixun and Zhu Heng successively controlled the Yellow River. During the Wanli period, the project of returning the main channel of the Yellow River to the north was launched. Zhaoyang Lake gradually shrank from 180 li to 90 li. All the water in the lake was accumulated by the Heshui River, and it became a lake specifically for storing water for the canal.

On a small island deep in the lake, there was a hidden village with eight people gathered inside. The leader shouted passionately.

“The emperor of today is insane, deceived by treacherous ministers, and persecuted loyal officials. The people of today are living in misery, and justice is hard to uphold. We, the loyal and righteous people, gathered in this Loyalty Hall to enforce justice on behalf of heaven, clear the emperor’s side, and correct the wrongs.”

One of the people asked: “The emperor is on a tour in the south, and the security is tight. How can we remove the emperor’s entourage?”

“Haha! It’s God’s will. There are loyal and righteous people in the court who provided us with a batch of firearms.” The leader shouted proudly.

He waved his hand and asked his minions to bring two wooden boxes, and opened them in front of everyone. Several people’s eyes almost popped out.

“Longqing Type 2 smoothbore rifle!”

(End of this chapter)