The Prosperous Era of Longwan

After learning about the sweet potato vine from Zhang Ji and reading the letter left by Yu Dayou, Wei Guangde finally understood. He had almost collected all the weapons to deal with Xiaobinghe in the late Ming Dynasty.

Yes, Wei Guangde was not excited just because he knew there were sweet potato vines. He had already passed that initial era.

In fact, in these years, as a second assistant, he still had a relatively good understanding of agricultural production in various parts of the Ming Dynasty.

Although droughts in the south and floods in the north remain the same, the disasters that alternated between the north and the south during the Jiajing period are still much better.

At the very least, although people all over the country have been hit by disasters, the output from the fields can barely satisfy their hunger, and they can survive year after year after the disaster, so they can still live their lives.

It was only during the Chongzhen Dynasty that successive disasters in the north pushed the Ming Dynasty to the brink of collapse.

Coupled with the improper handling of state affairs, the death knell of the Ming Dynasty was eventually sounded.

Although the officials of the Ming Dynasty are not very good now, and it can be said that corruption is rampant from top to bottom, the advantage is that the system is relatively good.

Yes, you read that right, the political system of the Ming Dynasty was pretty good.

The small government that lasted for thousands of years, in addition to huge military expenditures on the north, actually had limited financial support from the imperial court, which was not enough to drive people to death.

Especially now among the people, Zhu Yuanzhang decided that the imperial power would not go to the countryside. Because there are many clans, the countryside is mostly maintained by clan elders. They are all connected by blood, and they will never compare people to death.

Although later film and television works mostly put the responsibility for the suffering of the people on local officials, village chiefs, and armor chiefs, these people actually paid more taxes to people with other surnames, which was good for their own families.

Even though there are occasional people who have forgotten their ancestors, they are really not that many.

As for those people with foreign surnames, they actually lived in other people's villages, and they were mentally prepared when they settled in.

This is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty can last for more than two hundred years. The countryside is relatively peaceful and there are few nonsense things.

As for why Zhu Yuanzhang formulated "imperial power does not go to the countryside", it is said that he was exploited by corrupt officials, so he came up with this system to let the village elders maintain order in the countryside and prevent officials from extending their hands.

In fact, the birth of this system shows that Zhu Yuanzhang did not trust the integrity of Ming officials from the beginning.

However, the deeper reason is also related to the social structure of ancient China.

The cost for the imperial power to intervene in the countryside was too huge, and it might even lead to the subversion of the dynasty. This was one of the reasons why Zhu Yuanzhang chose this system.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty did not give up the power of towns and villages. Although local officials were nominally not allowed to interfere in local affairs other than criminal cases, management rights such as tax collection were still completed through subordinate staff.

Therefore, later generations also have a saying about ancient times, that is, rural governance in the feudal dynasty was basically controlled by subordinate officials.

The role of the squire in this process is negligible, and even the county magistrate will be deceived by the superb administrative skills of the subordinate staff.

This is also an important reason why county officials have to constantly purge the team of subordinate officials. There is a complex power game behind it.

In the Ming Dynasty, almost all officials, especially local officials and censors, had to deal with several subordinates in the early stages of their official career to establish their upright image.

Neither the clan nor the gentry would willingly donate the materials they controlled to the country. This was the main contradiction between imperial power and gentry power in the countryside. The forced delegation of many taxes and servitudes illustrates this point.

However, the gentry was not without resistance. In the ancient household registration system, which was incomplete, they avoided the penetration of imperial power by concealing their household registration and recruiting refugees.

When the dynasty was at its peak, it could still use the team of subordinate officials to restrict the gentry and maintain basic control over the countryside.

After a long period of peace, subordinate officials and squires will form an ambiguous relationship and jointly exploit policy loopholes to enrich themselves.

Therefore, the so-called local politicians do not rely on subordinate officials, but on the gentry, who live and kill, and do whatever they want. The people are rarely capable of self-existence, independence, and self-government.

The squires clearly realized that if they encountered honest county officials, they could still restrict them. However, most of the county officials were threatened by important state ministers and had heavy taxes imposed by the state and county. They had no choice but to allow subordinate officials to seize the villagers' property. Otherwise, Where did the local magistrate’s tens of thousands of taels of snowflake silver come from?

In addition, during the military turmoil, the squires relied on their wealth to recruit people to build armed villages. The mountain village not only has a large amount of field resources, but also is equipped with a certain number of armed forces.

With such an airtight iron barrel, the imperial power could not penetrate at all. Whether it was the recruitment of military service or the payment of taxes, they could only be carried out according to the subjective wishes of the squire.

No matter how high the mountain is, the emperor is not afraid of being far away. The autonomy of the gentry lies not only in the control of population and land, but also in the control of subordinate staff.

In contrast, the original intention of establishing subordinate officials in the feudal dynasty was to eliminate the local control of the gentry and try to incorporate "rural autonomy" into the country's governance system.

The current Ming Dynasty is actually a state where local officials and squires complement each other. It is difficult for local officials to directly intervene in the countryside, and squires must try their best to meet the requirements of officials because of the righteousness of the court.

This is also the reason why when local officials of the imperial court take office, the squires will visit them with gifts. After all, imperial power takes over morality, and the squires only dare to be a little arrogant in the countryside, but they dare not go too far.

However, after Zhang Juzheng introduced the examination method, the situation changed slightly.

The performance evaluation system really pushed the officials below into a corner. For the sake of their careers, they had to complete the taxes imposed by the court.

In fact, the taxes were not heavy, but there were too many local taxes, which were not light.

It can be said that from ancient times to the present, the comprehensive taxes borne by the Chinese have always been heavy, and the light taxes in the Ming Dynasty only refer to national taxes.

Wei Guangde also learned from officials who came to Beijing to report on their work more than once that local officials used some drastic measures to complete the taxation tasks.

And those of the same age and fellow townsmen who served as officials outside also complained in letters from time to time, most of them opposed the performance evaluation system.

This is also the reason why Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were able to reach a certain tacit understanding in the cabinet. Zhang Juzheng pushed the performance evaluation system, and he could not bypass Wei Guangde, and he needed his support.

And Wei Guangde's mentality at this time has also changed to some extent.

Influenced by the halo of later generations, Wei Guangde initially supported Zhang Juzheng's performance evaluation system, but now that he has learned the truth, he is still somewhat shaken.

Of course, these are another matter. At this time, Wei Guangde has already made a proposal. He plans to arrange the matter about sweet potato vines when he returns to the cabinet. He wants the Agricultural Persuasion Department to send someone to Fujian to find Li Jin to see if the sweet potato vines can be planted. This is the key.

After that, they will have to cultivate together and strive to obtain more sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines as soon as possible, and try to plant them in various provinces across the country.

In a word, sweet potato vines are what Wei Guangde prepared for the Ming Dynasty to survive decades later, and it does not seem to be urgently needed now.

As for early attempts and even promotion, it is also to cope with the current disasters in various places.

Imperial rice is not disaster-resistant, but it has a huge planting range. Whether it is cultivated land or mountainous land, it can be planted, which can solve the problem of food in mountainous areas.

After leaving home, Wei Guangde got on the sedan chair and went directly to the cabinet to take up duty.

However, when getting into the sedan, Zhang Ji, who followed him, whispered in Wei Guangde's ear: "Master, yesterday afternoon, I met the housekeeper of Minister Zhu's house shopping outside Zhengyang Gate, and we chatted for a while."

Wei Guangde was about to bend down to get into the sedan, but he stopped immediately after hearing this and looked back at Zhang Ji.

Obviously, this kid forgot to say this today, and only remembered it now, or he didn't know whether he should say it before.

Zhang Ji naturally understood Wei Guangde's actions, and whispered in Wei Guangde's ear: "He said that Minister Zhu has not slept well recently and has lost weight. He asked a doctor to see him, and he said it was a normal reaction of old age and he can only take care of it."

"Huh?"

Wei Guangde frowned when he heard this.

But thinking about Zhu Heng's age, he is over sixty years old, and his body does look a little old.

But Zhu Heng hasn't told him about this yet, so he can't ask rashly, so he can only hold it in his stomach and pretend not to know.

With a slight nod, Wei Guangde bent down and entered the sedan chair, and Zhang Ji also stepped aside tactfully.

After the sedan chair head shouted, several sedan chair bearers lifted the sedan chair and walked towards the Forbidden City.

Zhu Heng can be said to be the main helper of Wei Guangde after he entered the officialdom, especially after he emerged in the officialdom, Zhu Heng helped him a lot.

When he first entered the cabinet, his voice was weak, but it was not because of the help of his fellow villager that he had the right to speak in it.

Of course, Yu Ji's old people are also a very important force.

However, thinking of Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhan who have retired, Wei Guangde, who was sitting in the sedan chair, just shook his head slightly.

Officials will eventually leave, it's just a matter of time.

Fortunately, in the past two years, they have made the Ministry of Works into an iron bucket. Even if Zhu Heng retires, Wei Guangde is sure to let his fellow villager take over his official position and stabilize the position of Minister of Works.

The current Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, Jiang Zhi, is still in Nanzhili and Shandong, presiding over the excavation of the Jia Canal.

At first, it was thought that Zhu Heng could work until the Jia Canal was opened, that is, until he was 70 years old. At that time, with this merit, Jiang Zhi would be directly guaranteed to succeed him as the Minister of Works.

After listening to Zhang Ji's words, Wei Guangde had to consider this matter earlier.

Although he believed that even if he had to retire, Zhu Heng would definitely arrange it.

But Wei Guangde would not let this matter have any loopholes. The place where someone might take advantage of it was that Jiang Zhi was not in the capital at this time, and he was on a business trip, a very important business trip.

At this moment, Wei Guangde had already considered transferring Jiang Zhi back to the capital, and replaced someone else to supervise the construction of the Jia Canal on site, and he would return to Beijing to remotely control it.

"Ask Zhu Heng today and see what he thinks."

After all, this matter is the Ministry of Works' business, and Wei Guangde certainly cannot make the decision for Zhu Heng directly in the cabinet.

So he planned to issue a note today and invite Zhu Heng to the cabinet for discussion.

When the sedan chair arrived at Chang'an Street, Wei Guangde saw the scene outside through the curtain of the sedan chair. The sedan chairs and carriages of officials were walking towards the government offices in twos and threes.

There was no court meeting today, so everyone got up later.

In fact, Wei Guangde was more familiar with such days, after all, it had been like this since the Jiajing Dynasty.

But at this time, Wei Guangde's mind also returned to the government affairs, and he couldn't help but think of a proposal made by Zhang Juzheng before the court was dismissed yesterday, that is, to rectify the post stations.

Unlike the absurd decree of the Chongzhen Dynasty to abolish the post stations, at this time Zhang Juzheng just felt that the post stations distributed in various places in the Ming Dynasty now had too many responsibilities and wasted a lot of financial resources of the court.

The court set up post stations in various places with the original intention of strengthening the central government's rule over the surrounding areas and being responsible for transmitting military intelligence and official documents.

Initially, only those officials who were on official tours could use the post stations, and officials had to submit "kanhe" when using the post stations.

"Kanhe" is actually a kind of identity certificate, similar to the letter of introduction in the 1950s and 1960s. It records where you need to go and what you need to do. After the work is done, you must hand in the "Kanhe" and you cannot keep it privately or give it to others.

However, as time passed, the system continued to deteriorate, and eventually the system became a decoration, and more and more people had "Kanhe".

In order to reduce the pressure on the post station and cut unnecessary expenses, Zhang Juzheng ordered the rectification of the post station.

Not only did he redefine the system for entering the post station, but he also planned to abolish some unnecessary post stations and reduce fiscal expenditures.

After all, all the expenses of the post station were paid by the court, and those post stations that were obtained through personal relationships were not appropriate.

The root of this matter was that when Zhang Juzheng's brother Zhang Jujing was sick and needed to go home for treatment, the governor of Baoding sent the "Kanhe", and his original intention was naturally to curry favor with the prime minister.

As a result, when Zhang Juzheng knew about it, he immediately asked his brother to return the "Kanhe" and went home for treatment at his own expense, so as not to take advantage of the court.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng seemed to be gaining power, but he had offended many people because of the performance evaluation system, so he naturally did not want to leave a handle for others to take advantage of.

And using the post station set up by the court for free with the Kanhe was actually one of the privileges of the court dignitaries.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng wanted to clean up the post station and strictly check the use of the Kanhe, which would undoubtedly offend a large number of people.

"No wonder people settle accounts after death. When he was alive, he was in his prime, but it was hard for his living family."

Wei Guangde sighed in his heart. Zhang Juzheng's series of reforms were indeed beneficial to the court, but he offended too many people. Wei Guangde asked himself if he had the courage.

As for opposition, Wei Guangde did not fail to remind him, but Zhang Juzheng had actually stated his position yesterday, and he could not be persuaded at all.

Wei Guangde really could not find a reason to oppose things that were beneficial to the court. If he discussed it again today, it would almost be completely settled.

Wei Guangde did not care about the privileges of the Kanhe, but others might not, especially those low-ranking officials.

Many people privately give away the Kanhe issued by the government office, so that they can use the post station almost for free and enjoy convenient services.

This is also the reason why Zhang Juzheng was impeached after his death, and there was a situation of everyone pushing down the wall immediately.

However, when Wei Guangde walked into the cabinet, he sensitively felt that the atmosphere today was a little wrong, it seemed a little too serious, everyone was working silently, as if they were afraid of being caught cheating.

Feeling strange, Wei Guangde went straight back to his duty room.

When Lu Bu came in to deliver tea, Wei Guangde asked: "What's going on today? Why are the people outside so weird?"

"Master, the cabinet received an impeachment today."

"Huh? Who is it impeaching?"

"The Prime Minister."

Hearing that it was still impeaching Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it wasn't him. (End of this chapter)