After confirming that the reward money had been distributed and no one was left out, Zhu Ping'an returned to the Jingnan County Government amid the thunderous shouts of gratitude from the people, such as "Mother Zhu", "Judge Zhu", and "Master Justice".
"Young Master." On the way back, Liu Dadao and his men took out the reward money they had received and handed it to Zhu Ping'an.
"What are you doing?" Zhu Ping'an was stunned and didn't react for a moment.
"Young master, we are not short of money. We live in your house, eat your food, wear your clothes, and have no place to spend money. Young master is short of money, so please take this money." Liu Dadao and the others insisted.
"No need." Zhu Pingan smiled when he heard this. He finally understood what they meant and waved his hand. "This silver is your reward."
"Young Master, you have recommended for merit for us. Several of us have been awarded small flags for our merits and have become officials. This is something we could not even dream of. Hehe, it's all because of you, young master. We have also brought honor to our family. You have already given us a huge reward. How can we have the face to ask for silver?" Liu Dadao and the others laughed.
"Let's put it this way. You deserve all of this. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid Jingnan wouldn't have been able to defend it, and I, Zhu Ping'an, wouldn't have been able to be promoted to the fifth rank of the Criminal Investigation and Surveillance Commissioner. I got much more out of it than you did. Besides, your little money is just a drop in the bucket."
Zhu Ping'an smiled and waved his hands, pushing back their hands holding the silver and declining their kindness.
This request for credit was indeed biased towards Liu Dadao and his men. However, Liu Dadao and his men had followed him the longest, and were considered his direct descendants. They also made great contributions during the war against the Japanese invaders. If I didn't favor them, who else would I favor
"Sir, our rewards are just a drop in the bucket, but the extra rewards we just gave to everyone are not. Sir, I don't understand. In fact, we can just issue the rewards according to the reward order. Why do we have to give everyone more rewards? The county government is short of silver. You need to repair the city walls, develop water conservancy, build beacon towers in coastal counties, recruit migrants, open up wasteland... ... All these require silver. Sir, you have been worried about silver these days. Isn't this extra reward just enough to solve your urgent needs?"
Liu Mu also knew that the reward money he and others received was just a drop in the bucket for the vacant vacancies, but the extra reward money was not, it was 20,000 taels. Liu Mu didn't understand why Zhu Ping'an insisted on giving more reward money, and asked in confusion.
Zhu Ping'an has been worried about money recently. Due to the shortage of money, many plans are difficult to implement. Liu Mu and others are very clear about this, so they don't understand why Zhu Ping'an insists on giving out more reward silver than the reward order.
"That's right, sir. You worry about money every day. Isn't this extra reward money just right? We use it to do real work, not to embezzle it for our own pockets. No one will say anything."
Liu Dadao had actually been unable to hold back for a long time, and now when he heard Liu Mu speak, he couldn't help but agree.
"Young Master, you paid more than one thousand taels of your own money a few days ago..." Liu Dachui also said.
Liu Daqiang and others also agreed with confusion.
Zhu Ping'an understood that they were all thinking about himself, but their vision was still not far enough.
Zhu Pingan smiled slightly, and did not answer them directly, but raised a question, "What do you think is the most important thing when governing a place, whether it is building water conservancy projects, repairing city walls, or recruiting migrants?"
"Sir, of course it's silver. Without silver, how can we build water conservancy projects, repair city walls, build dikes and dig rivers, and use bricks, stones, tiles, etc.? All we need is silver. So, silver is definitely the most important thing." Liu Dadao gave his answer without hesitation as Zhu Ping'an finished speaking.
Although silver is very important, there are too many county governments with full treasuries that still cannot govern well. The people's livelihood in the jurisdiction is declining, the society is extremely poor, and all prosperity is in vain. The common people live in dire straits.
Zhu Ping'an smiled without saying anything and looked at Liu Mu.
"honest?"
Liu Mu hesitated for a moment and replied.
Zhu Pingan smiled and shook his head. "Which one is better, an incompetent and honest official or a capable and corrupt official?!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Mu couldn't help but fall into deep thought. Indeed, if an official is honest but incompetent, what good will it do to the people in his jurisdiction... An incompetent general will tire out the entire army, and an incompetent official will make life miserable for the people in his jurisdiction. It is better for a capable corrupt official to create more value for the people in his jurisdiction.
"Is it the officials who are most important?" Liu Dachui replied complacently, as if he had suddenly understood something.
Zhu Ping'an still shook his head.
Next, Liu Dadao and the others talked about diligence and ability... Zhu Ping'an still shook his head and smiled without saying anything.
"Young master, what is that?" Liu Dadao really couldn't figure it out. He scratched his head and asked in confusion.
Liu Mu and others also looked at Zhu Ping'an in confusion, wanting to know what was most important in governance.
"People's will."
Zhu Ping'an spoke slowly, his eyes shining like two bonfires.
"People's hearts?" Liu Dadao was stunned when he heard this. People's hearts are the most important factor in governing a place? !
"He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. This saying is true for any position. The most important thing for governing a place is the hearts of the people. Where the hearts of the people are, victory is expected. The success of a government lies in winning the hearts of the people, and the failure of a government lies in losing the hearts of the people. Only by winning the hearts of the people, the decrees issued by the county government will be supported and endorsed by the people, and everything will go smoothly with half the effort. Otherwise, the decrees will be like a tree without roots and water without a source, and it will be difficult to implement. As the ancients said, the people are water, and the rulers are boats. Water can carry the boat, but it can also overturn it."
Zhu Ping'an explained softly as he walked slowly forward.
Liu Mu was enlightened, and he looked at Zhu Ping'an with the utmost admiration. The young master is indeed a young master, indeed the youngest No. 1 scholar in the Ming Dynasty, indeed a fifth-rank official before he was twenty.
"But sir, spending so much money to win the hearts of the people is too costly, isn't it?" Liu Dadao felt it was not cost-effective.
"There is no cost at all. This silver is the reward for capturing the heads of Japanese pirates, which originally belonged to everyone. It's just that the emperor doubled it." Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly, "In ancient times, Shang Yang used fifty taels of gold to move a wooden pole to establish trust in order to win the hearts of the people. As long as you move a wooden pole to the north gate, you will be rewarded with fifty taels of gold. One tael is equal to twenty taels, and fifty taels of gold is one thousand taels of gold. You say the cost is high, but compared with the hearts of the people, this one thousand taels of gold is not worth mentioning at all, not to mention that the extra reward I gave out was originally from the people. I can win the hearts of the people of a county by doing something for nothing, so why not do it."