Lin Yanchao has been in charge of the Ministry of Rites for several days.

For Lin Yanchao, the affairs of the Ministry were very complicated. It was just that the Ministry of Rites and Rites was in charge of the etiquette of the world. From the ascension of the emperor, the establishment of the crown prince, and the scientific examinations of scholars, the weddings and funerals of the people were all-encompassing.

Everything is related to etiquette, and the Ministry of Rites can intervene.

However, the affairs of the Ministry of Rites are neither complicated nor complicated, because there are rules to be found in everything. Just do it according to the methods set by the predecessors, and don’t make any changes.

After Lin Yanchao officially took the seal, Ren Zhengtang felt that he had a deeper understanding of the word "ritual and law".

Since the May Fourth Movement, knowledgeable people have put forward the slogan of overthrowing the Kongjiadian, mainly breaking the old and reforming the old and drastic breaking the old habits. However, as this trend continues, it is inevitable that it is a bit overcorrect. In the era before Lin Yanchao traveled through time, promoting Chinese studies again became a trend. At this time, Chinese studies have retreated from Bangu, and talked more about practicality, but less pureness.

However, this is also the law of historical development and the negation of dialectics, and we have long summarized this.

Now, from Confucius to the time when Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism, etiquette and law were already at its most mature time.

What is the significance of etiquette and law lies in a relatively fair distribution system.

For example, the emperor uses the eight elixirs, the princes use the six elixirs, the ministers use the four elixirs, and the scholars use the two elixirs.

There is a method of allocating levels for each level. On the surface, it is to restrain scholars and officials, but at a deeper level it also restrains the meat eaters (princes and emperors).

The princes use the Six Paths. If there are too many, they will destroy the etiquette and law. The emperor can use the Eight Paths. If there are too many, they will not work.

To the present struggle for the foundation of the country, did the Ming Dynasty have any law saying that the eldest son must be the crown prince? No.

However, Shen Shixing and the scholars emphasized that the emperor should be persuaded by the rules of ancestors and the rule of the chief system in etiquette.

Why can't the punishment be punished by the doctor and the etiquette be compared to the common people?

Can the emperor be the same as the common people? If the emperor breaks the law, will the Minister of Justice dare to arrest him?

As for the common people, even the eight or six or even the six or even the two, how can they talk about the word "ritual and law"?

So this sentence can be understood in reverse, that is, using etiquette to manage superiors and using criminal law to manage subordinates.

And the emperor's position is no less respectful, but there are etiquette and law that restrict you.

What happens when destroying etiquette and law? There are three unhappy, God's will is unhappy, the ancestors and ministers are unhappy, and the doctors are unhappy. Therefore, when Wang Anshi reformed, he proposed three deficiencies.

Heaven does not need to fear, ancestors do not have laws, and people do not have to care for their words.

The emperor should govern the world with etiquette, rather than using his own likes and dislikes.

Confucianism established etiquette and law, so what he hated the most was reform.

There is no doubt that the ancient scholars and officials (today's middle class) were conservative.

Reform means destroying the distribution system, which will give the superiors the power to use the distribution at will.

Therefore, the reason why we govern the world with etiquette is because a stable political system is definitely better than a fool who doesn’t understand the situation.

Before establishing a political system, the most important thing is to ensure that an incompetent or low-quality person becomes emperor, so that his destruction of the entire country can be minimized.

Because the emperor cannot be virtuous all the time, sooner or later, there will be a dark and incompetent emperor to take office. What should I do then?

A building that has been built for a hundred years is enough to destroy it in just one day.

This idea certainly makes sense, but both Song and Ming dynasties were invaded and destroyed by foreign tribes.

This reason can be understood as a fixed distribution method, which leads to a fixed production relationship restricting the development of productivity.

It can also be explained that fixed allocation method is used to achieve balance in all aspects, but ignore entropy increase.

To achieve equilibrium to avoid entropy increase, one must be in a closed system. In this way, information input is rejected and foreign exchanges are exchanged. The country will inevitably move towards a closed-door country. However, the closed-door country can only slow the increase in entropy, but it is irreversible. Once strong external exchanges intervene, the balance will inevitably be destroyed.

Therefore, if you remain unchanged, you will die, and if you change blindly, you will die.

This is the problem Lin Yanchao faced after he succeeded as Minister of Rites. How to use etiquette to restrict imperial power? How to borrow the power granted by imperial power to break old habits and promote reforms?

But I thought for a long time, but the first thing Lin Yanchao did after taking office was not a national event such as reform.

But the Ministry of Rites has no money.

This matter must start from the financial system of the Ming Dynasty.

The financial system of the Ming Dynasty was a very fucking system, which fully demonstrated how to prevent officials from spending money indiscriminately.

Specifically, the income from each sum of money states the specific purpose.

For example, the Ministry of Justice gave the official price of silver for the main color paper of the host and guest department every year, and the official price of silver for 2 taels, 7 cents, 8 cents, and 8 cents, 6 taels, 7 cents, 2 cents, 9 taels, 4 cents, 6 cents, 8 cents, 8 cents.

This means that the Ministry of Justice gave the Ministry of Rites more than nine taels of silver to buy paper for the host and guest departments and the fine food departments.

The Censorate gives a discount of 149 taels, 40 cents, and 70 cents of silver every year, and uses it as the Ministry of Rites to buy 8,768 pieces of original paper. However, because Shuntian Prefecture also supplies paper to the Censorate, the Censorate transferred the account to Shuntian Prefecture, and Shuntian Prefecture provides paper to the Ministry of Rites.

The salaries of officials are paid monthly by the Ministry of Revenue.

The official food and silver for officials, Zaoli and servants is distributed monthly by the Ministry of War.

At the same time, the Ministry of Rites is also responsible for the salary expenses of the librarians of the Hanlin Academy and the Huitong Pavilion.

When Lin Yanchao took office, he also checked the accounts. Although the Ministry of Rites was a poor yamen, he also owed a lot of bad debts.

In the court, after Lin Yanchao looked at the account book, the officials from the officials came to report to him: "Report to the master of the Ministry of Works, the 317 taels and 5 cents of charcoal and silver given by the Ministry of Works this month have been sent to the official, and the original paper money of Shuntian Mansion has also been sent to him, but...but..."

"But what?" Lin Yanchao asked.

"But the true paper silver of the Ministry of Justice, the charcoal and fire silver of the Ministry of Works did not arrive. In addition, the officials paid half of the rice money from the Ministry of Revenue, while the Ministry of War only paid 30% of the work and food silver. The paper silver of the Ministry of Justice was only more than nine taels of silver, which was fine, but the salary of the officials and the work and food of the officials below were the big ones, and they could not be owed."

Lin Yanchao asked after hearing this, "What do the various ministries say?"

The Ministry of Industry reported: "The Ministry of Works said that the charcoal and silver will arrive two or three days later, and the Ministry of Justice has no explanation. The Ministry of Revenue said that the cost is tight now, and the officials in their own department cannot receive the full salary. They will delay it for the next month before making up for the month. As for the Ministry of War, it is even more bluntly saying whether it can be made up for the next month or not."

"So the Ministry of War, is there any such thing in the Ministry of Revenue?"

The official said: "It's all nonsense. Although the Ministry of Revenue often owes the official salary, the officials of our six ministries have always paid it in time. Other ministries have already received the full salary, but our Ministry of Rites has owed it. This is even more so. The Ministry of War has just paid 30,000 taels of silver from Taipu Temple this year. Although the money is used as border salary, it is not so nervous at work."

Lin Yanchao said: "I understand. You mean the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry of War intends to owe our Ministry of Rites official salary and work and food."

The official quickly said, "I don't have this meaning, maybe there is something really difficult."

Lin Yanchao said: "You don't have to cover it up for me. You guessed it right. Wang Sima of the Ministry of War and Shi Siong of the Ministry of Revenue came for me."

Lin Yanchao also lamented that he had to show his strength when he took office, but at this time someone would always get involved in your hindrance and then put you in endless human resources struggles.

Throughout history, are there still fewer such things?

Shi Xing, Wang Yie, and Lu Guangzu, as soon as he took office, he gave him a meeting gift. Do you want to be honest and disciplined? He really treated himself as Yu Shenxing.

Lin Yanchao was a little angry at first, but after a moment he calmed down.

When Yu Shenxing was in power before, the Ministry of Rites was embezzled a lot of the power of the Ministry of Rites. At that time, Yu Shenxing did not have the support of Shen Shixing, and was very experienced and was unable to resist. If an old ministerial hall was replaced, the other ministers would definitely not dare to bully him so blatantly.

Now Lin Yanchao is promoted to the Minister of Rites, and he is more than Yu Shenxing in terms of qualifications. Now he has not yet proposed to take back the power of the Ministry of Rites, but these three departments will give him a warning first, just like a drowning person who has just come out and has just emerged and is pressed into the water by someone.

After the officer retreated, Lin Yanchao returned to his fire room from the court. He called Xu Kongmu and told him about the matter.

Although Xu Kongmu's official position is not high, his power is equivalent to that of the Secretary-General. Moreover, Xu Kongmu has been an official in the Ministry of Rites for 20 or 30 years and is very experienced.

Lin Yanchao told Xu Kongmu about this, and asked him to take it into consideration for him. He also wanted to treat him as a confidant.

Xu Kongmu thought for a while and said, "It is also a common thing in the officialdom. Some new officials do not abide by the rules, look down on others, and look down on the elderly. Therefore, Shangguan often gives a warning and will be able to discipline after obeying."

"But the masters of the tribe are no better than others. The masters of the tribe are now the disciples of the prime minister, so they will not go too far. If the villain thinks it is good, it won't take long to send someone to explain it. Everyone will be able to deal with it after they say it will be easy."

Lin Yanchao asked, "What if they didn't send someone to explain?"

Xu Kongmu pondered: "In theory, they would not be like this unless the master of the tribe offended them in something. But it would be okay. As the minister of the Ministry of Rites, the master of the tribe was extremely noble. Sooner or later, he would have to be the prime minister. He did not have to be petty with them on such tribes. It would not be too late to settle the accounts again."

"Therefore, the master of the tribe is very patient. Whoever is not a hard-working wife becomes a mother-in-law, and it will pass in a while. If the master of the tribe really can't stand this anger, then go to Yuanfu for a lawsuit."

Lin Yanchao nodded and said, "Xu Kongmu is really mature and steadfast, but he has made a big deal about this little thing. As the Minister of Rites, the head office hall must not only take back the power of the Ministry of War to entrust the tribute, but also take back the power of the Hanlin Academy and the Censorate to assign the provincial examination examiners."

"Now that they are stuck in this little thing, so how about anything else?"

Xu Kongmu was surprised and said, "Mr. Master, how can one department compete with the three departments? What's more, the power of the Ministry of Rites is light. Even if it starts to make trouble, it will only have bad things for us, but no benefits."

Lin Yanchao refused to comment when he heard this.

Lin Yanchao was about to rest in the afternoon, but the officials in the room reported that the ministers at the left and right asked for a meeting.

The three ministries and halls of the Ministry of Rites have their own yamen. Unless they have good personal relationships, they will not interact with each other without any trouble. Any official business can be communicated through official documents. Now, such a big situation must be something.

Lin Yanchao immediately met guests in the living room of the fire room.

After Huang Fengxiang and Zhao Yongxian took their seats, Huang Fengxiang smiled and said, "The fire room here in Zhengtang is so elegant. Xiaguan has long wanted to come and open his eyes. Today, he took this opportunity to take a look."

Lin Yanchao smiled and said, "I can't walk or move in the fire room. As long as Brother Mingzhou is willing to come, you can come at any time."

Huang Fengxiang smiled and said, "Then you must talk more when you get a job."

Zhao Yongxian sneered: "Zuo Zongbo is here to sit casually, but the lower officials will not enter the Three Treasures Hall without any trouble."

"Oh? What's the important thing about Zhao Zongbo here?"

Zhao Yongxian said, "Then Zhao said bluntly, we have always been poor yamen, and everyone is counting on the court's salary to live. This time, I heard that the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War owes the salaries and the labor and food of the officials of our Ministry of Rites. Many officials in the yamen were worried, saying that they would be out of rice and starve to death soon. I wonder what Da Zongbo has to do with this matter?"

Lin Yanchao said: "The court is struggling now, and all the yamen are struggling to survive. It is not that our Ministry of Rites is owing a salary. However, as the main hall, Lin should be responsible for this matter and will inevitably ask the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War for all his colleagues."

"With Da Zongbo's grasp, I don't know how many days I can make up for it?"

Huang Fengxiang hurriedly said, "Senior Brother, don't talk to Zhengtang like this."

"It's okay," but Lin Yanchao stretched out five fingers and said, "In five days!"
To be continued...