The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"inappropriate."

Wei Guangde immediately said: "Although the whip method has matured, after all, the imperial court has not yet published it to promote it nationwide.

If there is a discrepancy in the Qingzhang, it may have an impact on this method, which is inappropriate. "

As Wei Guangde said, although the whip method has been supported by most civil servants in the court, it is not without opposition.

In the eyes of many people, the tax and servitude system handed down since the Hongwu period has been very complete, so how can it be changed at will.

Some people even said that if the whipping method was simpler, then the imperial court would have to reduce the number of local government officials after adopting it, because collecting taxes and levies has always been the main government affairs of local governments.

The new tax collection system is simple, and there is no need for so many local officials.

Zhang Juzheng wanted to clear the land first in Jiangxi and South Zhili according to the order of whipping. This task itself was extremely difficult.

If anything happens in Qingzhang's land, it can easily lead to fire and even a whipping method.

Even officials who did not object to a whipping law but resisted clearing their land would join the opponents.

By then, not to mention clearing the land, even the whipping method will probably die prematurely.

"A whip method has nothing to do with Qingzhang's land, and there is absolutely no need to mix it up.

Uncle, if you really want to consider the matter of clearing your father-in-law, you might as well choose a representative region, such as a province with a lot of people and little land, to conduct a pilot project.

Of course, this uncle needs to think carefully and the local government must give full support.

Otherwise, a slight mistake will lead to catastrophe. "

Having said this, Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Juzheng and said, "Brother, you must not take any action on this matter. You must take your time and figure it out slowly."

"Shan Loan, I actually understand this and have been planning it for a long time."

Zhang Juzheng listened to Wei Guangde's words, nodded and smiled bitterly: "I didn't know that this matter would offend many people, but you know what the situation is today, how much taxable land there was in Hongwu years, and how much there is now.

The imperial court is in financial distress, but all the wealth is in their hands. It’s true.”

Zhang Juzheng paused slightly at this point and did not continue, but he changed the subject and said: "Shandai is worried about triggering a civil unrest, but I don't think it will.

Don't forget to be kind. When the dynasty was first established, Taizu had already destroyed those aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River.

The current ones are only a hundred years old and have insufficient foundation. As long as the imperial court pushes forward forcefully, they are simply unable to resist. "

It turned out that Zhang Juzheng was sure that there were indeed powerful families in the area, but these families were formed over the past hundred years and had limited hidden strength, that is, what they had on the surface.

Such a family may be able to influence the government's affairs to a certain extent, but as long as the court is determined to do something, they can only cooperate and never dare to rebel.

You know, the world is at peace now, and this is not a time of chaos and human life is like a piece of grass. The people can't afford to eat and live, so naturally they won't have any thoughts of rebellion.

As long as the people are stable, even if some aristocratic families cause trouble, it will not start a prairie fire. It is just a small local disturbance, and the imperial guards in the local area can easily put it down.

Therefore, it is impossible for a riot to be caused by the Du Tian Order.

The Hongwu Dynasty carried out continuous attacks on the entire landlord class for half a century. This continuous attack that never ended not only permanently destroyed the strength of the powerful landlord class, but also formed a negative impact on the powerful landlord class in terms of social psychology and public opinion. resulting in lasting psychological fear and pressure.

Now, this has become Zhang Juzheng's confidence to push for the clearing of land.

When Zhu Yuanzhang started his business, he encountered resistance from Jiangnan landowners. The Jiangnan landowners had a certain favorable impression of the Yuan Dynasty and Zhang Shicheng's regime, but their reaction to Zhu Yuanzhang's regime was extremely cold.

When Zhu Yuanzhang invaded eastern Zhejiang in 1358, in addition to Liu Ji, Zhang Yi, Ye Chen, Song Lian, etc., who successively took refuge, a considerable number of landowners in eastern Zhejiang and Susong held the opposite attitude and passively resisted. This was the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang and Jiangnan The first stage of the landowners’ struggle.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang had not yet unified China, so he had to try his best to win over the Jiangnan landowners, hoping to be on his side, but with little success.

The entire Hongwu Dynasty was the second stage of his struggle with the Jiangnan landlords.

During this period, the political status of Zhu Yuanzhang and the Jiangnan landlords had changed significantly. Zhu Yuanzhang was currently the ruler of the political power, while the Jiangnan landlords had become a group discriminated against by the dynasty due to the failure of political bets.

Their indifferent and incompatible attitude towards Zhu Ming's regime resulted in Zhu Yuanzhang's ruthless suppression and ruthless attacks.

As early as after Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated Zhang Shicheng, he once said to the surrendered generals in Zhang Shicheng's camp: "My generals all grew up in Hao, Si, Ru, Ying, Shouchun, and Dingyuan. They are accustomed to hard work and do not know luxury. They are not like those who indulge in leisure and pleasure in the south of the Yangtze River." ”

This clearly distinguished his Huaixi landlord group from the Jiangnan landlords. Zhu Yuanzhang's destruction and attack on the Jiangnan landlords was carried out in three different stages.

The first two stages were around the beginning of Hongwu. They were aimed at those landlords who were politically hostile to Zhu Ming's imperial power, especially the landlords who were related to Zhang Shicheng's original regime. Ordinary farmers had no political influence, so they were not a problem. .

In the third stage, the wealthy households in the Jiangnan area and Jiangnan scholars who had little connection with the original regime of the Yuan Dynasty and Zhang Shicheng were targeted. The famous historical story of Shen Wansan, a big landowner in the Susong area at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, who was brutally tortured by Zhu Yuanzhang, is well known to everyone. .

Zhu Yuanzhang initially treated the Shen family superficially and asked Shen's children to serve as minor officials. Later, he still did not let him go and incorporated him into the "Blue Party". "Each mu will be paid a fixed sum of nine dou and three liters, and the weight of Wu Xia's grain quota will be seated here."

Of course, Shen Wansan is a historical legend, and different types of historical records have different records, but it is a basic fact that Zhu Yuanzhang dealt with this type of big landowners.

The policies at that time, such as heavy taxes in the south of the Yangtze River, relocation of people to enrich the people, forcing Shen Wansan to build the Nanjing city wall, rewarding the Ming army with money, and issuing various types of hard labor, all had political reasons.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang's "no one is allowed to enter the sea" policy to curb private maritime trade, Su Song people were not allowed to have official household offices, and even Pu Shougeng's descendants were not allowed to take the imperial examinations, etc., were of course aimed at the Jiangnan landlords.

In the early years of Hongwu, Wan Er, a large landowner in Jiading, was originally a survivor of the Yuan Dynasty and was "the richest county in the world". Later, he realized that the situation was not right, so he "bought a huge ship to take his wife on a voyage across Hexiang". Sure enough, "in twelve years, the wealthy families in Jiangnan With the second status gone, this person is the only one who has been ordered to die."

After Zhu Yuanzhang's continuous attacks on the landlords in the south of the Yangtze River, "the powerful people and giant clans in the Susong area were completely wiped out", and the large landowners in the Sanwu area "both gained and recovered, died or moved, and no one survived."

It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang spared no effort in attacking the Jiangnan landlords, and the cruel treatment of the Jiangnan landlords can be said to be dying.

Due to this high-pressure policy of the Ming Dynasty, many scholars in Jiangnan at that time were unwilling to become officials in the Ming Dynasty. Some people in their families even loved reading, but they "were afraid that the counties would know about it and they would rebel against the supervision of the fields."

It can be seen that the psychological fear and psychological shadow caused by the Zhu Ming Dynasty's approach to the big landowners in the south of the Yangtze River and the attack on the scholar-bureaucrat class were very painful.

Zhang Juzheng didn't need to say this, Wei Guangde also knew it.

Today's big landowners, except for the emerging force of Xungui, most of them are families that actively participated in the imperial examinations and obtained court status and were re-established. They all relied on the Ming Dynasty to develop.

Whether it is Zhang Juzheng's own family or Wei Guangde's family, they are actually emerging forces. They use their rights to cultivate fields and are actually considered landlords.

At the beginning, Wei Guangde didn't even know that he actually had two to three hundred acres of farmland behind his back, and it was all farmland that was not listed in the court's fish scale list, so it was just normal.

In fact, the Wei family has such land, but the Zhang family may not have it.

Zhang Juzheng's move to clear his father-in-law was more or less a blow to himself, but after all, as the chief minister and responsible for the country, he had to do it for the fate of the country.

This may be the difference between politicians and politicians. Politicians tend to favor private matters more, making them appear more selfish, while politicians value public affairs more. As long as it is good for the country, they will choose public affairs first. Even at the expense of his own interests.

"When are you going to start the trial? Anyway, I will not agree to pilot it in Jiangxi and South Zhili. This will easily put the implementation of the whipping method at greater risk, and it may even fail."

Wei Guangde said bluntly.

Wei Guangde has long shown his support for policies such as the one-whip law, the opening of the sea, and commercial development, but he has never thought about what to do in tax law, because historical experience tells him that it is just a futile approach.

Even in later generations, in a society governed by law, it will be difficult to completely eradicate exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.

He really has no way to make everyone in the local government officials honest and honest.

All he can do is try his best to transfer the floating grain from the poor people to the rich, so that they can bear less and live a better life.

The so-called "floating grain" refers to the transfer of actual control over land and property, causing land taxes and taxes to be passed on to the common people.

What Wei Guangde wanted to do was actually move the stalls built by Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. That is to say, he wanted to wait for Zhang Juzheng to implement the Qingzhang Fields and a whip method, and then find a way to push it out and take advantage of it.

However, the whipping method is relatively easy to implement with the support of local and imperial officials. However, after thinking carefully about the matter of clearing land, Wei Guangde felt that it was difficult to do and would offend others, so he could only let Zhang Juzheng do it on his own. He did not Just stop it.

Now that Zhang Juzheng was discussing this matter with him, he naturally had to make the problem more serious and make him advance the matter more cautiously.

"Initially I wanted to be in Jiangxi, but since Shandai objects, I'll think about other places."

Zhang Juzheng said.

He could see that Wei Guangde was not opposed to the matter of clearing his father-in-law, but he was just too worried.

Little did he know that Wei Guangde was actually the one least worried, but he just didn't want to get involved with a whipping method.

Wei Guangde didn't know where Qingzhang first started, so he couldn't speak and let Zhang Juzheng think about it himself.

At the same time, he was also very wary. From the time Zhang Juzheng came to him for private discussions to the time he proposed the Jiangxi Ten Points, Wei Guangde guessed that Lao Zhang wanted to drag him into the water.

After all, if the first and second ministers of the cabinet support it, the resistance from below should be much smaller, and local officials will have some scruples.

In fact, Wei Guangde was right. At this time, Fujian was ranked first among the pilot provinces for the new Qingzhang land in Zhang Juzheng's mind.

Fujian is a province with many people and little land. Although it is vast, it has too many mountains and limited land suitable for farming. Therefore, Fujian people have always had the habit of doing business.

The imperial court set up the sea port in Yuegang, which actually meant to help the Fujian people.

Moreover, Lao Kan, the current governor of Fujian Province, is the same year as Wei Guangde. The two have a good relationship, and Zhang Juzheng also knows it.

If Fujian is introduced as a pilot project, as long as Fujian can achieve results, the outside world will guess Wei Guangde's attitude without him having to say it himself, and the effect will actually be better.

"Then that's it for today. I'll discuss this matter with Shandai after I decide on the pilot site."

Zhang Juzheng said, his expression a little uninterested.

However, Wei Guangde also remembered something at this moment. He had just thought about it himself before and hadn't mentioned it yet.

Therefore, Wei Guangde did not stand up to say goodbye, but said: "Brother, there is one more thing. Shandai would like to discuss with you whether it is feasible."

"What's the matter?"

Zhang Juzheng asked with a smile.

"In the past two days, I saw the shipbuilding progress of several official shipyards in Jinling and Zhejiang sent by the Ministry of Industry in the first half of the year, and then I learned that the Nanhai Navy had previously ordered ten new gunboats at the Zhejiang shipyard. Dayou had previously issued a document to stop construction. Renovate two double-decker gunboats.

However, since construction had already started in Zhejiang and there was no subsequent ordering plan for other ships, these ten gunboats were built after reporting to the Nanjing Ministry of Industry.

Just last month, the two double-decker gunboats ordered by the Navy were completed and delivered to the Navy officers and soldiers for sea trials. "

Hearing Wei Guangde's words, Zhang Juzheng understood a little bit. The Ministry of Industry had spent money to find someone to pay for it. However, as of now, it seems that the Nanhai Navy would not pay for the ten gunboats, so they just settled the matter. Report to the cabinet.

"The Ministry of War only recognizes those two new gunboats?"

Zhang Juzheng knew that the navy imitated the barbarian gunboats and built some warships with artillery as the main weapons, but Wei Guangde was always in charge of the Ministry of War affairs, so naturally he paid little attention to it.

"I asked about it, and the Ministry of War said that the Nanhai Navy had already reported and suspended the construction of the ten warships, so the Ministry of Industry built them, but they couldn't take over.

Obviously, the Navy was not very satisfied with that kind of gunboat, so there was the purchase of double-decker gunboats.

However, it has been built and cannot be dismantled or converted into a cargo ship, so I still plan to let the Ministry of War take over and go south with two new gunboats to support the South China Sea Navy fighting in Myanmar.

Afterwards, even if the Nanhai Navy is not needed, the gunboats will have more experience after this long voyage, and the Dengrai Navy can be transferred north to protect the Gyeonggi. "

Wei Guangde said: "However, because the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry cannot reconcile the accounts, the Ministry of Household Affairs may refuse to pay when the time comes to verify it. Therefore, Wang Shangshu asked my uncle to speak on his behalf."

Zhang Juzheng just frowned slightly when he heard this. It was obviously the Nanjing Ministry of Industry who made the mistake, but the Ministry of Household Affairs should bear the responsibility.

But the ship is already done, and it’s really impossible to tear it down just now.

"In that case, let's follow Shan Loi's wishes. I will go and tell the Ministry of Accounts."

Zhang Juzheng said.