The Prosperous Era of Longwan

However, history has also proved that Zhang Juzheng's vision of people is actually not very good.

It's like Zhang Siwei, who Zhang Juzheng favored and single-handedly appointed to the cabinet, is obviously not a qualified successor.

After Zhang Juzheng's death, he actually overturned Zhang Juzheng's political reforms in an attempt to stabilize people's hearts.

Zhang Siwei not only stopped the correct reform measures, but also completely negated Zhang Juzheng's policies, which caused the Ming Dynasty to lose the opportunity to revive.

Zhang Siwei became the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet and immediately overturned Zhang Juzheng's reform measures, leading to the final tragic fate of Zhang Juzheng and his family.

Part of the reason why Zhang Siwei fought back against Zhang Juzheng was because some of Zhang Juzheng's policies and actions during his lifetime aroused his dissatisfaction, even though Zhang Siwei was promoted to the cabinet by Zhang Juzheng.

In fact, what Zhang Siwei attaches most importance to is business development.

Because Zhang Siwei was born into a merchant-landlord family and lived in the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty when the commodity economy was relatively developed, he had a relatively advanced understanding of the important position and role of commerce in the national economy.

In China's feudal society, the concept of valuing agriculture over commerce was very stubborn.

However, Zhang Siwei swept away the previous traditional concepts and believed that businessmen were as equal as scholars, farmers, and workers. Business played an indispensable and important role in national economic life. Rulers should attach equal importance to business and agriculture.

Therefore, Zhang Siwei not only did not despise business or despise businessmen in his life, but he also wrote epitaphs for many businessmen, praising their noble conduct of making money through business and benefiting the country and the people, and enthusiastically praised many businessmen for their tireless toil and misery. Deeds of business and hard work.

In particular, his collection "Tiaolutang Collection" retains a large number of stories about Shanxi businessmen's fortune-making and business methods, which provides detailed information for future generations to study the development of the commodity economy in the Ming Dynasty.

What he said may have provided a lot of reference opinions for Zhang Juzheng's economic reforms, but Zhang Siwei obviously opposed the key points of Zhang Juzheng's reforms, namely the examination method and the one-step whip method.

In particular, the nationwide clearing of land in the process of advancing the One Whip Law had a huge impact and caused damage to the interests of the gentry class.

As a large landowner, the Zhang Siwei family naturally suffered heavy losses in this incident.

Although the Zhang family is a business family, the emergence of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty was only in its infancy. At that time, people were most accepting of the view that "where there is land, there is wealth", believing that business can make money but also lose money, and only land can Continue to generate revenue.

Therefore, after becoming successful, many businessmen did not expand their business territories aggressively, but instead purchased large amounts of land and became big businessmen and landowners.

Therefore, after Zhang Siwei came to power, in order to quickly gain the support of the scholar class and consolidate his position, he chose to abolish Zhang Juzheng's reforms and launched a counterattack against the reformists' New Deal.

With his own selfish interests, the Ming Dynasty lost an opportunity to revive, and politics became completely corrupt.

Although there were rumors that Zhang Siwei was disgusted by Zhang Juzheng because of his disagreement with Zhang Juzheng after he joined the cabinet, he finally chose to give in.

As for the cabinet ministers, although starting from the mid-Ming Dynasty, it became difficult for Sandingjia to enter the cabinet. I don’t know why. Most of them would have accidents while doing errands, and then there would be no chance of promotion. But it is definitely not that Everyone is so unlucky.

No wonder, some novels or miscellaneous journals say that the high-level officials in the court deliberately suppressed Sandingjia, especially their number one champion, because of jealousy.

However, Shen Shixing is indeed an exception. Perhaps when he emerged, Zhang Juzheng was already in power and there was no need to be on guard, so Shen Shixing succeeded in joining the cabinet by relying on his seniority.

Even after Zhang Juzheng was killed, he took advantage of Zhang Siwei and Ding You to become the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet.

Obviously, this is inseparable from his usual low-key style and arbitrariness.

No one in the court could be offended, and he finally stood out in the competition for the candidates of the first assistant, surpassing Yu Youding and Pan Sheng, and took the throne of the first assistant.

After him, in the turbulent Chongzhen Dynasty, the former number one scholar Zhou Yanru and Wei Zaode also served as the chief ministers of the Ming Dynasty cabinet.

However, their reputation collapsed with the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, and naturally they were not very good.

Perhaps Zhang Juzheng also knew more things and knew that there were some hidden rules in the court. Anyway, he didn't think highly of Shen Shixing.

Because Shen Shixing acted in a mediocre manner and was not outstanding, he had no intention of supporting him.

Zhang Juzheng's words can be regarded as agreeing with Wei Guangde's proposal and agreeing to let Shen Shixing enter the Ministry of Rites, which can be regarded as embarking on the golden road from the Hanlin to the cabinet.

Of course, it’s hard to say yet whether he will be able to join the cabinet in the end.

Crossing the single-plank bridge with thousands of troops and horses is no less difficult than the imperial examination.

"There's one more thing."

At this time, Zhang Juzheng suddenly spoke again: "Shan Lian, Shuntian Mansion came before me to impeach Ning Jinbo Liu Tianxi and Wu Jinghou Zhao Guobin for their illegal acts, wantonly occupying people's fields, and even killing several people.

How do you think we should handle this matter? "

Zhang Juzheng suddenly threw a hot potato in his hand to Wei Guangde. Needless to say, the reason was that he had more contact with nobles. These are the homes of nobles. If it were left to the Ministry of Punishment and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, there would be trouble. Big.

In the end, no matter how he dealt with it, the court still lost face.

In fact, it is the same in every dynasty. When encountering such a thing, most people choose to cover it up and solve it as soon as possible, so as not to let the situation escalate and then spread it everywhere to affect the reputation of the court.

"I heard someone say this before. If they offer a suitable price, it is understandable to buy other people's land, but it is indeed too much to give a super low price and force the sale.

The court has never treated these military families unfairly.

But if we have to deal with it..."

Wei Guangde hesitated a little. Although the two families mentioned by Zhang Juzheng are not big figures among the nobles, there are many similar to them.

The court's public crimes are likely to make other nobles feel sad, and then run to the palace to cry.

The harem hopes that the court will be stable and nothing will happen.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde have always adhered to the practice of turning big things into small things and small things into nothing, as long as the problem is solved.

For difficult things, they all determine the solution when they are drafting, and the harem only needs to approve "approval" or "no", without having to think hard about the solution.

If we don't deal with the two nobles, it will be difficult to explain to the people and the clean officials in the court. If we deal with them, we are afraid that someone will come to the harem to plead for mercy, which is also troublesome.

"I will talk to someone later. If you really want to buy them, raise the price and give an appropriate price. As for the dead people, let them pay compensation and settle this matter as soon as possible."

Wei Guangde certainly couldn't say that he would punish them according to the law, which would ruin his reputation among the nobles.

"It's better to ask them to hand over a few servants and let the government handle it.

I will say hello to Shuntian Prefecture and let them go easy when dealing with them. Just show your intention and try not to lose face for the two prefectures."

Zhang Juzheng said again.

Hearing that Zhang Juzheng still wanted to deal with a few servants, Wei Guangde nodded without denying, "I can't say too much about this matter now. I will meet them in the next two days and talk about it before we can decide."

Although Wu Jinghou and Ning Jinbo did not have a high status among the military heroes, they were one of the group after all, and Wei Guangde certainly could not make decisions for them.

Moreover, Wei Guangde's in-laws did not have a deep relationship with these two people, so it was even more difficult for him to interfere.

There were roughly three periods of military merit in the Ming Dynasty. One was the group of people who helped Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang seize the world.

When the Ming Dynasty was first established, Zhu Yuanzhang conferred titles on meritorious officials, dukes, generals and ministers, and the Duke of Wei was a thing at that time.

However, due to the turmoil in the court at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, not many of these people survived in the end, but most of their titles were restored, but many of them were demoted and inherited.

The second period was naturally the "Jingnan" of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, and this time it was again a large number of meritorious officials, and many dukes, marquises and earls were conferred.

Most of the meritorious officials at this time had a good end, and only some of those who were involved in the Han Wang Rebellion were abolished.

Later, after the coup d'état, many of the officials who helped Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen restore the throne were also conferred titles.

The two families of Wujinghou and Ningjinbo, who were involved in the incident, were favored by the Emperor Yingzong at this time because they stood on the side of the Emperor and participated in the coup d'etat. After that, they were quickly conferred titles because of some military merits.

These three types of people are actually three distinct groups among the nobles, and they are not closely related to each other.

The nobles who founded the country naturally looked down on those who rebelled, and the rebels looked down on the traitors, so they just disliked each other.

Although these can only be thought about in the heart, but not said out loud.

However, by now, the contradictions and contempts of the past have long disappeared, so there may still be some contradictions between the nobles now, but the general direction is still the same, after all, there is the great enemy of civil officials.

The honors of your ancestors can protect them from inheriting the title and continue to enjoy the glory and wealth, but the power in the court is gone. With the increasing strength of civil officials, they are also walking on thin ice and are very uncomfortable.

It is not difficult to understand that they support each other, otherwise they may really be eaten up by civil officials.

Of course, the nobles were able to survive because the royal family needed to check and balance the civil officials. Although the nobles could play a limited role, they were more confident in handing over the military power of the capital and its surroundings to these nobles who shared the same fate with the country.

After discussing the nobles' affairs, it was almost time to leave the court.

Lu Diaoyang was the first to get up and say goodbye because he was unwell, and when Wei Guangde was about to leave, he was stopped by Zhang Juzheng.

"Shan Dai, I have something else to discuss with you. It's better to do it on the same day than on another day. If you are free today, you may delay for a while."

Zhang Juzheng said so, Wei Guangde naturally nodded and smiled: "Of course, there is nothing to do, uncle, please say it."

"Jiangxi and Nanzhili have implemented the one-whip law for many years. These days I have read the memorials they submitted again. The summary of the one-whip law feels relatively mature and can be promoted in the two capitals and thirteen provinces."

Hearing Zhang Juzheng talking about this, Wei Guangde immediately cheered up.

The Single Whip Law had been repeated many times in the Ming Dynasty, and it was Zhang Juzheng who finally pushed it on a large scale. Even though Zhang Juzheng's reforms were hit hard later, most of the restrictions on officials such as the Performance Evaluation Law were rejected, but the Single Whip Law was still retained in some places.

Of course, the main reason for its retention was that some local officials felt that this law was indeed convenient for the government and the people.

Continuing to the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng carried out reforms such as the land tax distribution, the unified service and tax payment of gentry, and the public ownership of fire consumption, which extended the life of the feudal dynasty.

However, when Wei Guangde was surprised, although the topic started from the Single Whip Law, Zhang Juzheng's topic gradually changed.

"Nowadays, the tax collection and payment are still based on the Yellow Book. Shandai knew it at that time. Local officials mostly followed the White Book in the hands of the clerks. The rules set by Taizu have long been ruined by those useless people below."

When it comes to the key point, Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but say bitterly.

In fact, if the Ming Dynasty had been completely in accordance with the policies set by Zhu Yuanzhang, it might not be that bad, and it might have lasted for another one or two hundred years.

But I don't know since when, the Yellow Book, which is related to the continuation of the Ming Dynasty, was actually falsified, and the census every ten years was useless.

Almost two hundred years have passed, and the court is still using the Yellow Book of the Hongwu period to calculate taxes and labor. Isn't it ridiculous.

"Uncle, what do you want to do? Conduct a new investigation?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

"We must check, but what I want to do more is to check the fish scale book.

How many fields were there in the world during the Hongwu period, and how many fields are there in the world today? The court needs to have an idea in mind and cannot let them do whatever they want."

Zhang Juzheng only said this and shut up. He knew the importance of this matter, so he didn't plan to talk to Lu Diaoyang. After all, he had already decided to leave the court, and knew that these were meaningless.

It was Wei Guangde who was the second assistant. Zhang Juzheng must get his full support, otherwise it would be more difficult to implement this matter than the performance evaluation system.

In fact, the purpose of Zhang Juzheng's reform was to enrich the national treasury.

As long as the court has money, any problem can become a small matter that is easy to solve.

But as long as the court has no money, small problems will become big troubles that cannot be solved.

Making money is actually the fundamental purpose of Zhang Juzheng's reform. Although the withdrawal from the performance evaluation system will have the effect of rectifying the administration of officials, clearing up arrears of taxes, and recovering arrears of taxes, Zhang Juzheng's original intention is to serve the subsequent administration.

Without an efficient government, his ideas would not be implemented at all.

Given the current procrastination of government offices at all levels in the Ming Dynasty, it may take ten years to get on track and be implemented.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng did not carry out economic reforms right away, but first pushed the performance evaluation system to improve the efficiency of government work.

Of course, it was also a way to kill two birds with one stone to bring down some opponents.

"Brother Shu, what do you mean?"

Wei Guangde hesitated for a moment, but he didn't say it out loud.

"Measure the land of the world."

Before Wei Guangde said it, Zhang Juzheng took over.