The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde's strategy for controlling the Yellow River was clearly arranged from the upper reaches to the lower reaches, and Zhang Juzheng naturally understood it.

However, Zhang Juzheng was not sure whether such a big show would have any practical effect.

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After a little thought, I figured it out.

Although Wei Guangde suggested that the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River should be controlled together, in fact, the court does not need to bear any burden, and it is all done by local people and money.

Build some reservoirs in the upper reaches to store water and control the amount of water flowing into the middle and lower reaches, and find places to store some water in the middle reaches. In the final analysis, it is all for controlling the amount of water.

As for the lower reaches, Wei Guangde did not have many suggestions, but with Wan Gong's memorial, it would be okay to let him try.

However, Wei Guangde's suggestion seems to make sense. The Yellow River's problems are all in the lower reaches, and there has been basically no flood in the middle and upper reaches. What does this show?

Isn't it just that the incident was caused by too much water and too much silt.

Controlling the water volume and reducing the silt to the downstream may really be effective.

"I have no objection. Let's write to Lord Wan and let him consider it. What do you think, Heqing?"

Zhang Juzheng expressed his opinion.

"You can try it. I hope it will work."

Lu Diaoyang nodded.

Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, all dynasties seemed to have no way to deal with the Yellow River. In the Ming Dynasty, the floods were getting worse and worse. All we can say is that any reasonable plan can be tried. If it works, it will be the best. If not, we will continue to think of ways.

After talking about Wei Guangde, Zhang Juzheng also started to talk about his own things.

During this period of time, when he was free, he looked through the memorials of Jiangxi and Nanzhili on the trial of the One Whip Law. There were both good and bad ones. If it was to be promoted nationwide, it was naturally impossible to copy the methods of Jiangxi and Nanzhili. The court had to consider it comprehensively.

Which ones were fixed rules that must be implemented, and which ones could be flexibly adjusted by the provinces, all had to be considered carefully.

There was no way. Zhang Juzheng had not planned to bring this matter to the cabinet for discussion so early, because Wei Guangde proposed to reform the money law, so he had to throw it out now.

In Zhang Juzheng's plan, he would first use the performance evaluation system to clean up the civil service.

After the civil service was cleaned up, the one-whip system would be promoted to achieve twice the result with half the effort.

If the original civil service was still followed, it was unknown what the one-whip system would be like below.

But recently when Zhang Juzheng was thinking, he found a tricky thing, that is, if all taxes and labor were collected in silver, the tax distribution problem.

Seeing the figures of the land area of ​​the Ministry of Households from the Hongwu Dynasty to the Wanli Dynasty, he felt a headache, and the eating was too ugly.

For more than a hundred years, the land area that the court said was taxed did not increase but decreased, and the decrease was outrageous, which was not normal at all.

So he thought that before promoting the one-whip system nationwide, he had to spend huge manpower and material resources to measure the land area nationwide.

The results of the measurement were used as the tax base to distribute taxes to various places.

Land surveying may seem like a trivial matter, but the final result may be very different from the current registration of the Ministry of Households, and it may eventually lead to a big trouble that they cannot avoid, that is, the errors and omissions in the Yellow Book of the Ministry of Households.

All officials are actually aware of the current situation of the Yellow Book, which records the land and household registration information of the whole country.

If there is an error in the land, what about the household registration?

Wei Guangde had mentioned the plan of "spreading the land tax into the land", which is to include the corvée silver into the Yitiaobian Law and convert it into the silver for the corvée.

This silver actually existed in the past. When there was no project that required corvée, the local government would collect it as a tax.

Or because this was not a regular project of the court, in Zhu Yuanzhang's beautiful idea, that is, when the court needed it, it would recruit people's manpower, and when it didn't need it, it would naturally let the people rest and recuperate.

But the facts proved that it was just his wishful thinking.

The silver collected by the government was not handed over to the court, but kept in the local area, and finally it actually went into the pockets of officials.

After the land tax was distributed, the taxes and labor service were combined and converted into silver. All tax silver had to be sent to the court in proportion, and the remaining part was the local government.

If the local government needed silver, it would ask the court for it, and the court could control the local government, which was a good trick.

In fact, in later generations, the so-called tax reform was a game of tax distribution, a game between the central and local governments, and a fight for the right to distribute taxes.

The key point of Zhang Juzheng's economic philosophy was land.

At this time, the phenomenon of land annexation and deceiving the government was very serious throughout the country. The people fled, the household registration was unclear, and the local tax burden was extremely unbalanced, resulting in "national poverty and people's poverty", and only local gentry and officials benefited.

In response, Zhang Juzheng came up with the idea of ​​re-measuring the land in the country, investigating the evaded land, and recovering the accumulated taxes.

In fact, one of the purposes of the performance evaluation system itself was to recover the accumulated taxes, because the court was too poor.

Wei Guangde used minting to increase profits for the court, so he had to come up with a way to increase the court's income, otherwise he would be outdone by Wei Guangde.

But if he wanted to survey the land, he would have to face the problem of the yellow book household registration.

How many households and people are there in the world, and where are they distributed?

It can be said that surveying the land and checking the household registration are both very energy-consuming tasks for the government, and they cannot be carried out easily.

These two points are also known as the biggest obstacles to the implementation of the One Whip Law.

If the land and household registration are not clear, the One Whip Law will not achieve its purpose, because the purpose of this law is to collect the land tax, corvée and other miscellaneous taxes of each state and county into one, and collect silver and pay it according to the land.

The Yellow Book and Fish Scale Book of the Ming Dynasty recorded the household registration and land situation of the whole country respectively, and were the basis for the court to collect taxes and labor.

Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang listened quietly to Zhang Juzheng's ideas, and they were a little hesitant.

The problem, of course they knew, but the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book had to be updated, and the manpower and material resources consumed were not a simple matter of moving the lips.

But even the Yellow Book, according to the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang, was recompiled every ten years. Every time it was compiled, it was necessary to mobilize local officials and mobilize thousands of students from the Imperial College in the north and south to participate in it.

It was also because it was too troublesome, so in the middle period, the Yellow Book gradually became a formality. Many places directly copied the previous Yellow Book, but only added ten years to each person registered in it.

For this reason, Hangzhou once made a joke, that is, there were hundreds of centenarians in Hangzhou.

But in fact, many of these people are no longer alive, but the officials who compiled the documents just copied them to save trouble.

Checking the land and finding the hidden land is conducive to the distribution of taxes and labor service, which is "equalization", but if the population is also checked, the workload will be huge.

But the population involves the silver for the people, so won't we check it?

You know, the slogan of the court's trial of the "One Whip Law" is "equalizing taxes and labor service, and relieving the people's difficulties", and it not only checks taxes, but also labor service.

"There is one thing that Shandai may not know, and I suddenly remembered it yesterday, and I think there may be something strange in it."

Zhang Juzheng said again, "This is the matter reported in Nanjing in the fifth year of Longqing, when Shandai was still in mourning in his hometown."

So, in Zhang Juzheng's mouth, an old story in Nanzhili was turned up and talked about in the cabinet.

"This matter originated in the 14th year of Jiajing. Cheng Peng and Wang Xiang, who were from She County, Huizhou Prefecture, Nanzhili, discovered that She County had to pay a tax of "population silk and silk" alone, totaling 6146 taels of silver, while the other five counties under Huizhou Prefecture did not have to pay.

They found something wrong and reported the situation to Huizhou Prefecture many times, and even reported it to the governor and the inspector of Yingtian. Because the governor and the inspector were quickly transferred, and the officials in charge were from the other five counties, the matter was delayed until the two died, and the matter was left unresolved.

In the third year of Longqing, the Huizhou Prefecture, which was under the jurisdiction of Huizhou Prefecture, Jia Mo, the military household commander of Xin'an Guard in the prefecture, found that the "population silk and silk" should be borne by She County alone, and verified his idea through the records in Huizhou Prefecture Chronicles. He continued to submit a report after Cheng Peng and Wang Xiang, detailing his investigation process and submitting it to Liu Shihui, the then Yingtian Inspector General, and Hai Rui, the Yingtian Governor. "

The so-called "population silk and silk" means that silk and silk are collected according to the registered population and paid in kind. The collected original silk is supplied to the official weaving, and the discounted silk is sent to the central government for salary and reward.

The silk and silk tax in the Ming Dynasty is mainly divided into summer tax silk and silk, agricultural silk and silk and population silk and silk.

The silk and silk tax in the northern region of the Ming Dynasty retained the practice of collecting taxes from household registration and population, which was called "population silk and silk". The silk and silk tax in the southern region was collected according to the number of acres of land, which belonged to the land tax and was called "summer tax silk and silk".

This is actually where the tax collection in the early Ming Dynasty was flexible. There were many people in the north, and miscellaneous taxes were mostly distributed according to household registration and identification, while there were more fields in the south, so they were directly distributed on the land.

This is because the population in Jiangnan dropped sharply after years of war in the early Ming Dynasty, while there were relatively few wars in the north, and the population reduction was limited.

Therefore, the population silk mentioned by Zhang Juzheng should actually be the summer tax silk, but the meaning is similar, and Wei Guangde does not need to remind him.

"Can the source of this matter be investigated?"

Wei Guangde frowned and asked.

Since this matter has been heard by Zhang Juzheng, Nanjing must have found out the source when reporting it.

"It is indeed recorded in the "Collected Statutes" that Huizhou Prefecture needs to pay 8,780 pieces of silk for its population every year, which is equivalent to more than 6,100 taels of silver, but there is no record that She County should bear it alone.

In addition, it has been verified that it was not only She County that owed summer wheat in the early Ming Dynasty. The other five counties of Huizhou also owed more than 10,700 shi in total, but they did not pay it back.

Furthermore, if wheat is converted into silver, according to the official discount standard at the time, 3 cents per shi, this amount is only 3,000 taels, but if it is converted into 8,780 pieces of silk, 7 cents per piece, it will cost more than 6,000 taels.

According to the situation after the investigation in Nanjing, this tax should actually be borne by She County, 3,000 taels, The other five counties should bear more than 3,000 taels.

It was just that the copyist of the Secretariat made a mistake and mistakenly put the tax silver borne by the six counties of Huizhou on She County, and it has been borne until now. ”

Zhang Juzheng sighed: "It has been more than a hundred years since the Hongwu period, and She County has always borne thousands of taels of tax silver more than the five surrounding counties.

Yesterday I remembered that I looked through Shuai Jiamo's petition, and there was a good sentence in the petition.

'The way of the world is to call for equality, so if things are not balanced, they will complain. She County has been heavily taxed for a long time, and the people are extremely distressed. I personally met the benevolent and wise in power, and I prepared a petition and begged for equality'.

This article is well-founded and should be true. ”

Zhang Juzheng remained silent after speaking, letting Wei Guangde understand the meaning of his words himself.

"You want to check the taxes and levies in the world?"

Wei Guangde understood that in order to promote the fairness and justice of the Yibianfa, Zhang Juzheng planned to conduct a check on the taxes and levies recorded in the "Da Ming Hui Dian".

You must know that Zhu Yuanzhang set the taxes and labor service for various places and ordered future emperors not to change them.

The incident in She County was probably not only noticed during the Jiajing Dynasty, but no one said anything because of it.

After all, this tax has been recorded on She County and it is difficult to change it.

Zhang Juzheng remained silent in response to Wei Guangde's question.

Rubbing his hands, Wei Guangde was a little worried that the matter would end badly if it got bigger. Even if it was justified, it would be difficult to overturn the established facts, so he asked again: "Since this matter has happened for many years, what is the situation in Nanzhili?" How to deal with it?”

"Governor Hai Rui gave an instruction to "yangfu to investigate and report the seizure", and inspector Liu Shihui instructed to "ask Huizhou to convene responsible officials, squires, elders and other people from the six counties for a collegial discussion."

Since then, all counties have responded, among which Jixi County has responded with the statement "It will be accepted as usual, so that the common people will not have to worry about sudden changes in the common people, and the government and the people will be satisfied." "

Only then did Zhang Juzheng speak.

"hiss"

Wei Guangde took a breath, Jixi County could dare to say threatening words to Haigangfeng.

Doesn’t the worry of small people’s violent upheaval refer to popular uprising?

However, the surprise only lasted for a moment. Wei Guangde suddenly realized that the matter might not be that simple.

After lowering his head and thinking for a moment, he roughly figured out the reason. He couldn't help but look up at Zhang Juzheng and asked, "Are they dissatisfied with the whipping method?"

Any government decree is actually mutual. There is only so much wealth in the world. Either you give more, or they give more, and the total amount remains unchanged.

If the whip method is introduced to alleviate people's difficulties, it will be a huge loss to those who have previously gained vested interests.

"And after that?"

Seeing that Zhang Juzheng did not answer, Wei Guangde asked again, "What happened in the fifth year of Longqing?"

"Shuai Jiamo checked the surveys of Huizhou from the previous dynasties of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and guessed that the Huizhou household clerks had committed fraud, which caused all the tin silk silk to be transferred to She County.

At the end of the fourth year of Longqing's reign, Shuai Jiamo submitted his new discovery to Huizhou Prefecture. When there was no response, he decided to go to Beijing.

In the fifth year of Longqing's reign, the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate replied that "the codes must be followed, the taxes should be distributed equally, and the copies should be made according to the discretion." The Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs approved "the title of Hou's headquarters patrolling the Yamen", and also issued a special notice to Huizhou Prefecture. A speech asking them to explain and come up with solutions.

But until now, there seems to be no progress. "

Zhang Juzheng replied.

"Where is the handsome Jiamo man? Since he has done so many things, it is impossible for him to do nothing in the past two years."

Wei Guangde said in surprise.

“I just want to use this case as an example as the source of the investigation of taxes and servitude, first to trace the taxes and levies, then to trace the household registration and re-edit the yellow roll, and finally to clear the land and acres.

After these things were done, a whipping method was implemented in the thirteen provinces of Ming Dynasty.

Otherwise, if we promote a whipping method based on the current situation under the control of the Ministry of Revenue, we are afraid that it will fail. "

Zhang Juzheng said.

Hearing this, Wei Guangde frowned slightly and said, "Uncle, this method has been implemented in many places in Jiangnan. There is nothing wrong with it."

"It was implemented by the prefectures and counties. If there are any mistakes, just correct them in time. But when the imperial court implements it throughout the Ming Dynasty, it must consider these impacts. Shandai will not forget what happened in Shandong."

Zhang Juzheng reminded, "Yellow books and white books are not conducive to the court's actions and must be unified."

Wei Guangde felt a toothache. Now Ge Shouli, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was appointed as the Minister of Household Affairs in the first year of Longqing. He opposed the whipping method because of the Shandong Rebellion.

As for the yellow book and the white book, Nanjing Huguang Road Examination Supervisor Chen Tang also made it clear in the memorial.