Chapter 347: Minister of Rites (V)
In the room of the guesthouse, Gao Pang stood up and sat down from time to time. Gao Pang was uneasy about the arrangement of the Ministry of Rites. If the people of the Ministry of Rites had not told him about this change, Gao Pang would not have believed it.
Although he was loyal to Huo Chong, Gao Pang also agreed with the ideas proposed by Huo Chong. But when he thought about being able to govern the country with propriety, he was really excited. As early as when he was studying with his teacher and father-in-law Chen Mingtai, Gao Pang had taken the idea of the world for the public as his ambition. How could Gao Pang not be excited to see the possibility of self-discipline and restoration of propriety at this time?
Perhaps he was too excited. After thinking for a while, Gao Pang felt exhausted. The world of self-discipline and restoration of propriety was too grand. Gao Pang felt that his energy was drained by the illusion of such a world. He seemed to have become an empty shell and lay back on the bed powerlessly.
His mind was blank, and Gao Pang fell asleep unconsciously. He didn't know how long it had been before he finally woke up. It was already dark, and Gao Pang yawned and wanted to get up, but he felt very hungry. In this exhausted state, Gao Pang didn't want to move.
Suddenly, an idea popped into my blank mind.
If this was Huo Chong's decision, why did people like Weber write a petition themselves first?
With an idea in mind, the information about this matter rushed into my mind. Weber, Gong Yu, Luo Yiren. According to the teacher, these people are just as restless as Gao Pang. If Gao Pang's restlessness is the pursuit of unrealistic delusions, Weber, Gong Yu, Luo Yiren, and Kong Bugeng's restlessness is obviously much darker.
These people like troubled times, power and destructive schemes. Although in such a world, they can indeed become sharp blades in Huo Chong's hands. However, these people have some conspiratorial natures after all, and what they expect is rebellion...
Recalling the teacher's comments on these people, Gao Pang no to be blindly optimistic. Although he wanted to solve the problem of mulberry silk in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Gao Pang did not want to become a tool in the hands of others.
Since he had come to the "capital", he naturally had to ask for an audience with Huo Chong. Even if he couldn't meet him, he had to express his request to see the commander-in-chief of the Chinese court. Huo Chong was very straightforward in meeting Gao Pang. After Gao Pang reported his work, he couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, I have something to tell you. It's just that I don't want to talk about people behind their backs, so I hope your Majesty won't misunderstand."
"Haha, go ahead." Huo Chongming said.
Gao Pang told Huo Chong about the problem he encountered. Huo Chong laughed inwardly when he heard that Gao Pang wanted to use price temptation. This was just an attempt to use a small amount of money to stir up a trend and then roll up a large amount of money to invest in the industry.
From a P2P perspective, this is child's play. Even a bigger lie would not make P2P feel anything wrong, so why would they care about such a small trick?
"Xiao Gao, have you ever thought about this? What you are doing is indeed effective. But how large is the coverage?" Huo Chong asked.
Gao Pang was stunned. He had never thought about this question.
Huo Chong then told Gao Pang about an information transmission mechanism. After explaining this little trick, Huo Chong did some calculations for Gao Pang. In fact, there are no professional mulberry planting and silkworm breeding institutions in Jiangnan. Even if there are, mulberry planting is more centralized, and there is no complete mulberry planting and silkworm breeding system.
Gao Pang had never thought that Huo Chong would think in this way, and for a moment he felt that his methods were completely inferior to Huo Chong's. But it was a good thing to have someone to teach him, so Gao Pang asked Huo Chong what to do.
Huo Chong smiled and said, "There are only two reasons for people to become the mainstream of society. First, someone needs to teach them, and second, they need to be able to afford to fail. At this stage, we don't have that many resources, and it's impossible for us to provide services to everyone. That's right, we need to provide services. We will deploy services in areas where our transportation services can reach, and we will do it in production teams. You have to understand that we can't expect every production team to do well. You have to work with local comrades to grasp this degree."
“How many people are needed?”
"It's not about how many people you need, but how much you are capable of. If you have unlimited capabilities, then deploy them everywhere. If you don't have enough capabilities, then you can only focus on the periphery of the city or reliable towns..."
After this conversation, Gao Pang felt that everything was suddenly clear. He even felt a little regretful. How could he have been fooled by Weber and others?
But thinking of what Gong Yu said about the Ministry of Rites, Gao Pang became very curious and finally couldn't help asking, "Your Majesty, I heard that you are going to establish a new Ministry of Rites?"
"Yes. I want to build up the army first." Huo Chong sighed. The situation of the army was not bad, at least much better than that of the Qing Dynasty, but it was far from what Huo Chong expected. Huo Chong himself couldn't help but sigh secretly, once a faction was formed, many very unpleasant things would happen. The reason for moving the capital to Xuzhou in Jiangsu was that Huo Chong wanted to absorb more people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so as to solve the problem that almost all the people in the government and the army were from Shandong.
Gao Pang's mind moved, and he tried to say: "Your Majesty, I would like to try it in Jiangsu and Zhejiang first. After all, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have just been incorporated into the court, and many people just want to be officials. But after becoming an official, they can't be directly around Your Majesty like before. If we can establish a Ministry of Rites for selection, it will be a good thing for them."
"Haha, Gao Pang, do you know that there is a basis for the new rules of the Ministry of Rites? That is the right to vote. Although the concept is there, it is the same for everyone. If you do not agree with the concept, you will definitely not be elected to the Ministry of Rites. However, once elected to the Ministry of Rites, everyone can no longer have a simple command relationship. You understand what a command is."
"Understood." Gao Pang nodded repeatedly. Now if the people below could obey orders and follow instructions, Gao Pang felt that he would be very happy.
"The Ministry of Rites must have a philosophy as its foundation. We want to liberate the Chinese people. If someone does not base their actions on this philosophy and instead wants to fool the people, or if someone deliberately stirs up trouble under the banner of this philosophy, none of this will work. However, even if you agree with this philosophy, there must be an implementation method. There are many implementation methods, and at this time, do you have the confidence to accept the test? That is, your plan must be supported by everyone. And this support is achieved by voting to elect representatives from all levels of the Ministry of Rites."
Gao Pang was stunned. This was something Gong Yu had not mentioned. "Choose? Who will choose?"
"This time, the Ministry of Rites will go directly to the grassroots level. Each village will have its own Ministry of Rites organization, and the members of the Ministry of Rites in the village will elect village representatives of the Ministry of Rites in each village. The village representatives will elect township representatives. The township representatives will elect county representatives. The county representatives will elect state representatives. The state representatives will elect representatives of the court. All levels have their own Ministry of Rites organizations. This is a system."
Gao Pang was stunned. If the court had various ministries and each province had its own specialized bureaus, it would only strengthen the court's management. The new Ministry of Rites organizational model that Huo Chong mentioned was something completely new. It was something beyond Gao Pang's cognition.
The conversation lasted for several hours. Gao Pang barely managed to remember what Huo Chong said about the new organizational structure of the Ministry of Rites.
Generally speaking, the grassroots organizations of the Ministry of Rites include the grassroots committees, general branch committees and branch committees of the Ministry of Rites. They are established based on work needs and the number of members of the Ministry of Rites, with the approval of the higher-level Ministry of Rites organizations. The Ministry of Rites Charter stipulates that enterprises, rural areas, government agencies, schools, scientific research institutes, streets, People's Liberation Army companies and other grassroots units. Where there are more than three formal members of the Ministry of Rites, a grassroots organization of the Ministry of Rites should be established.
The organizational principles, organizational structure and organizational discipline of the Ministry of Rites were fixed in the form of internal rules and regulations of the Ministry of Rites, namely the organizational system of the Ministry of Rites.
Although the bottom-up organization of the Ministry of Rites is based on the principle of minority obeying the majority, the entire Ministry of Rites at all levels is not a simple election where those who get the most votes are promoted to become the king in the higher-level Ministry of Rites organization.
The purpose of the Ministry of Rites is to organize its members to learn the ideology and spirit of the Ministry of Rites, study its documents, and listen to its meeting reports. The most important thing is to regulate its members and firmly implement its orders.
After the new structure of the Ministry of Rites was completed, it was no longer a place for empty talk. On the contrary, it was a fighting organizational structure.
Gao Pang asked tentatively, "Sir, is this why you want to implement this in the army now? Is it to ensure the combat effectiveness of the army?"
"Yes. This is a fighting organization, and naturally the combat effectiveness must be guaranteed through the system. For example, many soldiers, especially officers, now think that it is best if no one dies. I don't say there is anything wrong with this, because if I force everyone to strengthen close combat, there will definitely be people who don't take the lives of soldiers seriously and issue completely inappropriate orders for their own selfish reasons. With the Ministry of Rites, warriors can be selected. Soldiers who can fight, dare to fight, and are good at fighting. And these warriors must be able to lead everyone to charge, and stand up in the battle and shout "Follow me", instead of shouting, "Brothers, come on." But such people may not be very suitable for being officials, and once they have only the path of being driven by others, they will inevitably be consumed. As long as people are involved in personal interests, they can easily become hateful and shameful."
Huo Chong had been holding back some words for a long time. Although Gao Pang had many shortcomings, he was an idealist. At least Gao Pang had not yet become so corrupt that he had lost his ideals.
Gao Pang also felt that this was true. When the interests of various departments were involved, things would become extremely troublesome. Gao Pang had experienced this before. And are the interests of various departments really wrong? At least each department felt that it was their responsibility to protect its own interests.
So Huo Chong wanted to build a Ministry of Rites that transcends all other departments. Although this idea seems shocking, it is not wrong in theory.
Although he still felt confused, Gao Pang couldn't help but said, "Sir, I want to try it out on the silkworms in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. If we can use the Ministry of Rites to suppress the interests of various departments, no, to surpass the interests of various departments, things will be easier."
"If you want to do this, you have to remember one key point. The Ministry of Rites is a work team, a vanguard team, and a propaganda team. For example, in the silk industry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the people in the Ministry of Rites must be able to work and produce results. They must practice what they preach. The most important thing is that what they produce is not something unique. It is something that can be widely promoted. Gao Pang, let me ask you, what do you think uniqueness and universality, rareness and commonness are?"
Gao Pang felt that I was no longer sleepy when talking about this, and immediately answered: "There are no two identical... mulberry leaves in the world, and no two identical silkworms. As long as they exist in this world, they are already unique, so uniqueness is common. However, everything has its essence and reason. The essence of mulberry leaves is the same, and the essence of silkworms is also the same. Being able to grasp the essential laws, abandon one's own prejudices, and come up with universal solutions based on the essence of things. This is called universal, and it is rare."
"That's right, and it should be so. If you really want to do that, I have to tell you that the establishment of an organization like the Ministry of Rites is itself a very clear-cut purpose. This is not a dinner party, this is not just chatting about family matters. This is work, this is a battle. This is the vanguard's charge on difficult problems. The vanguard paved the way, and those behind can follow. Imitation, learning, and construction. These are the three levels of cognition. With the vanguard, everyone has an object to imitate. Therefore, the vanguard is by no means a consumable. If the members of the Ministry of Rites eventually become victims, it will only disappoint everyone..."
Gao Pang returned to the guesthouse again. When he lay back on the bed, he felt his heart was full.
Compared to the previous incitement by Weber and others, Gao Pang now felt that Huo Chong had revealed a corner of a whole new world. Although he could only imagine it based on simple words, Gao Pang felt that he could already see some undercurrent surging. If this undercurrent was released, would it be a blessing for the world? Or would it be something more terrifying and dangerous? Gao Pang couldn't understand it at all.
Two days later, Gao Pang went to Huo Chong again to get a lot of already written documents and outlines, as well as a lot of records of discussions between Huo Chong and Gao Pang.
Feeling that he had roughly understood the organizational model of the Ministry of Rites, Gao Pang took Huo Chong's approval document back.
There was time to think about these issues on the way. Gao Pang couldn't help but recall the play "Changing Rice to Mulberry". When he first watched it, Gao Pang thought he had learned from it the struggles of the upper class and the need to unite with the masses. And it should be noted that good policies may not necessarily be supported when they are implemented.
Now the feeling is completely different. Birds of a feather flock together. Even without any deliberate organization, many people have organized themselves into different groups. This is almost natural.
The only thing that can fight against the organization is the organization. From this perspective, there are too many things hidden in the play "Changing Rice to Mulberry", and it is really amazing to dig into it.
Feeling strong psychological pressure, Gao Pang looked at the approval document from Huo Chong in his hand.
Teacher Chen Mingtai and Gao Pang discussed the imperial edict. The imperial edict is the conclusion reached after the imperial court's discussion. All relevant departments participated in the discussion. Once the imperial edict is issued, the imperial court must obey it. The edict is an order issued by the emperor in his capacity as the emperor, and the six censors can refute it. However, in the Qing Dynasty, although the censors still existed, it was the same as if they did not exist.
Now the document that Huo Chong gave to Gao Pang was not an imperial decree, but a handwritten order. In the present, or in the era of the founding of a country, the founding monarch has great prestige, so a handwritten order is enough to have the effect of an imperial decree .
However, as the bureaucratic system became more complete, handwritten orders became less and less effective. When the imperial court issued a handwritten order or an imperial edict that was not normally passed through the Zhongshumenxia, it was directly delivered to the relevant agency for execution, which was called Zhongzhi. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, civil officials in the court were proud to oppose the emperor's "Zhongzhi".
Even if they were ordered by the emperor to be dragged out and beaten with sticks, these civil servants were still happy to do it. Now Gao Pang was taking the imperial edict to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to start a fight. Gao Pang suddenly burst out laughing. Thinking of this actually felt like he was using chicken feathers as a token of authority.
However, Gao Pang still overthinks. Now that the country is in a state of complete founding, Huo Chong's handwritten instructions are very useful. No one would think that Gao Pang is taking chicken feathers as a token of authority. Different times, different situations. In the current era, all ministries strongly require that any order must have an official document. Under permitted conditions, it must be signed.
Because in this era, a single order can kill a person without any evidence. In this era where people can be killed without any evidence, Huo Chong's clear document and handwritten instructions are so reasonable and legal that they are admirable.
This time, Gao Pang invited his father-in-law, Chen Mingtai, the salt administrator of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, to "discuss work." When he met his father-in-law, Gao Pang actually asked about work.
Father-in-law Chen Mingtai didn't care and told Gao Pang about his recent work. The machine-made salt fields used for drying salt in Shandong are highly efficient and stable due to the mechanical equipment. The salt fields have undergone several technical improvements, and the techniques are now fully in line with the characteristics of machine-made salt fields. Therefore, the salt is large, pure, and cheap. With the supply and marketing cooperatives as the foundation, it has easily destroyed all private salt industries.
After saying the good things, Chen Mingtai sighed, "But I am a little worried. The food and clothing of the millions of canal workers depend on you. If your majesty does this, those salt farm workers who have lost their livelihoods will have to find a way to make a living, but it will not be easy. After all, they are no longer used to making a living in other ways. Let alone farming. I hope nothing will happen."
Gao Pang thought, "Hmm. This...are they willing to put in the effort?"
"Well... I don't know. I'm just thinking about it."
"Father-in-law, what you said is actually quite right, because there is an interesting job at the moment. Father-in-law, do you know the job of laying tarpaulin? It is used to build and renovate houses."
"I know about oil felt. I've seen that house. I also lamented that bricklayers will have a hard time in the future. It's the livelihood of a millionaire."
"No. It won't. The court has issued an order that all places should vigorously build houses. If there are people who think they can contribute and like some crafts, they can be invited to do the construction. After all, there are so many houses to build, and the court alone cannot finish the work. If everyone is willing to do this, it can also be a way to make a living."
Chen Mingtai thought for a moment and then sighed, "Gao Pang, do you know what kind of people they are? They are speculators, and all they want is to make money. It's definitely not okay to ask them to work. At most, they can just get some people to work."
Gao Pang didn't want to blame anyone this time. "It doesn't matter. Recruiting people also requires effort. We should always get started first."
