Zhao Zhen did not reply to Du Zhongxiao's suggestion. He neither said it was right nor said it was right, but only said it made sense, and the court officials gathered discussions. Du Zhongxiao himself understood that these are major affairs in the world and it was impossible for the monarch and ministers to decide it here. If it was to implement it, the ministers and officials of the Central Secretariat must cooperate, otherwise there would be chaos in the court.

After talking about macro-policy, Zhao Zhen said: "For the matter in Ye County, you said in the memorial that if you want peace in the world, you must know how the people in the world think, do, and live their daily lives. This is the truth, but it is too difficult for the court."

Du Zhongxiao bowed to the water and said, "It's difficult to say this matter is difficult, but if you think about it carefully, it's not difficult to do it."

Zhao Zhen said: "It's interesting, how do you say it?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "When words are the voice of the heart, if you can know what the people like to say and what they like to listen to, you should know a general idea. For those who work all day long, they are just the taxation of the service, which is relatively simple. And those who work in the towns care about more things. Knowing the tile tiles in the town, what they are playing, what they are meaningless to make fun of you, and what they are reflecting the voice of the people, you can know the general psychology of the people in the town. In the peaceful period of the mainland, this is the general idea. The so-called Feng Ya Song of the Book of Songs, using wind to best reflect the hearts of the people, is this truth. At that time, there were few people in the world, and the king sent people out to collect folk songs, and he would know the hearts of the people. Now there are many people in the world, and if they can follow the intention of collecting folk songs in ancient times, they should know the hearts of the people."

Zhao Zhen laughed after hearing this: "It is good to say this by the Chief Central Committee. The king is indeed a matter of history when he learns the people's opinions. However, today, there are few folk songs in the world, and people's hearts are not as simple as those of the ancients. There are many melodious sounds and lack of pure joy. It is difficult to see people's hearts from this. It can even be said that it is impossible to do."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Your Majesty, the matter is due to human affairs. With the king's field of study, the people can express their minds directly, which is a complementary task. As long as the court is willing to make efforts to collect the voices of the people, the voices of the people will naturally reflect the voices of the people more and more. The foundation of the world is the people of the world. If the people are happy, then the country will naturally be peaceful and the people will be safe. Such things cannot be stopped because of the difficulty."

Zhao Zhen said: "What does the Chief Secretary want?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "The Censor's official is an inspector. Although there are regulations, it is too rough. I think that the inspector can be found in two aspects. One is that each position must have its own responsibilities, mainly regulations, and whether it is done or not, the court has its own rules. And the people's perceptions are like this. Either they are done according to the regulations, or good officials, and the people are satisfied. There are some disagreements in this, and of course the court decides the people. And the people's perceptions cannot be asked, otherwise

After all, it is either a waste of time and everything is an act. Or it is a vent of some people, and it cannot reflect the voice of the people. To really know the people’s ideas, we should start with ordinary things. I think that the court spent some money and the censorate hired local literati to collect local songs, folk songs, and plays performed by tile tiles. Their popularity is sorted out as a reference for the court’s governance. This cannot be used as a basis for the promotion and decline of officials, and can let the court know the effect of governance among the people."

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said, "This matter is not difficult. Now that the court is rich in money and food, you can transfer some to the Censorate and set up special officials to do this. Or, it is also an elegant matter to participate in the officials of the museum."

In fact, Zhao Zhen didn't think this was of any effect in his heart. It was just that Du Zhongxiao had an important position and gave up military power to become the chief censor of the court. It was the time to win over, and he was not short of this amount of money.

Du Zhongxiao thanked him and said, "For example, in Ye County, the local governance was done by public officials and mainly to urge taxes. In the past two years, all kinds of harsh and complicated taxes were abolished, so it was easy to collect taxes. The most important thing for local officials is not to collect taxes, but to limit what public officials do. The previous methods were somewhat unsuitable and must be changed. I think that the top priority of the local government at this time."

This is the real key point. Zhao Zhen immediately became serious after hearing this and said, "How to do it, Zhongcheng will tell you in detail."

Du Zhongxiao said: "When the imperial court sent officials to govern the local area, the power of the local area must be in the hands of the officials. However, most officials are not familiar with the local area and rely on officials to do things. How many officials are there in the world who are really good at officials? In most cases, officials are fooled by public officials and are powerless to do anything about local affairs. My ministers think that Ye County has abundant finance and can try a new method."

Seeing Zhao Zhen nodding, Du Zhongxiao continued: "I have attributed this method to several points. Officials are in power, officials are in charge of affairs, and officials are in charge of service. Local power must be in the hands of officials. Any decision-making should be made by officials. If officials are not sufficient, officials should be added. If local affairs are divided into one part of the matter, they actually do not need many officials. According to the decisions made by officials, the specific work is local officials. But the arm of officials and helps them do things should be local officials. The key is that officials are employed and their salary is enough to support their families. The servants are the rotation of the people under the rule of the people, and they can provide subsidies, not too much."

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and nodded, "What he said makes sense. Now the prefecture is better, and the county's public officials and servants are mixed, and many officials have to enforce the recruitment law. It is somewhat similar to what you say that officials should hire and give their salary."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Now that money and food are sufficient, the court can afford it. In recent years, the reduction has become smaller. The salary of officials is paid more to cash, which is equivalent to increasing the salary. In particular, the income of the lower-level officials has increased a lot compared with previous years. However, for officials in prefectures and counties, if there is no official money to supplement the money, the income is still insufficient. The ministers think that they can spend more money on officials. The salary of officials at the bottom is increased, and the salary of officials is increased, so that their income is enough to support their families. Then the court clearly stipulates regulations to increase the constraints on officials and not harm the people."

The public officials of the Song Dynasty, especially in prefectures and counties, sometimes could not distinguish them from the servants. The salaries of officials were given by the court, and no matter what the local area was, it would not be short. The public officials might not have. There were not many places that were actually stipulated, and the local finances were not good, and they often did not pay money, which became servants. In this case, we naturally could not expect the public officials to be honest and fair, and they also had to have a meal. Du Zhongxiao's reforms actually treated the officials as former officials and gave enough salary so that they could support their families. Since the officials were all locals, the pressure to support their families was not as high as those of officials, and of course the salary was lower. In fact, the finances are abundant now, and more spending on officials to strengthen grassroots management.

Zhao Zhen thought about it and said, "In this way, the more money spent on officials will have a great impact on the court. This is a big deal, and the ministers must discuss it together. However, there is nothing in Ye County, so you can do it first."

Du Zhongxiao held the scepter and said, "What Your Majesty said is that the meaning of the empress is to be tried first in Ye County. There are many factories and abundant finances, so you can do this. In Ye County, you can select effective officials to conduct reform experiments. Officials are in power, officials do things, and servants are minions. The decisions in a place are of course made by officials, and officials do things. While helping officials do things, they supervise officials. Because servants are all local households, they know the pros and cons of the pros and cons, and they can report the fraud first."
Chapter completed!