The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Chapter 963 1052 First Hearing of Toungoo

If we really want to analyze the reasons for the fall of dynasties one by one, the reasons are actually very complicated. They can be said to be different, but in fact they are similar.

They are different because a series of major events that can change the country often occur at the end of the dynasty.

They are similar, but they cannot avoid the corruption of the government and the social contradictions caused by land annexation.

However, if we say that the fundamental shaking of the dynasty is often due to the intensification of social contradictions caused by land annexation, large-scale peasant uprisings.

As powerful as the Tang Dynasty, the historical event of its decline from prosperity was the An-Shi Road. Although the An-Shi Rebellion seriously weakened the rule of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty still survived for more than a hundred years and actually had a chance to recover.

Moreover, after the An-Shi Rebellion, it can be said that the political environment of the Tang Dynasty has changed greatly, like a political blank sheet of paper that can be written freely.

However, before the An-Shi Rebellion, the political corruption and land annexation of the Tang Dynasty itself did not end because of this turmoil, but became more and more serious.

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It is believed that the Tang Dynasty died due to the separatist regimes of the feudal lords. Although this is true, it is also biased.

In fact, after the An-Shi Rebellion was quelled, the separatist regimes of the feudal lords in the Tang Dynasty had been greatly weakened. At least in the war to quell the rebellion, most of the separatist forces that appeared before the war collapsed.

During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the territory was constantly expanded and wars were launched.

The Tang Dynasty had fought fierce battles with the Turks in the north, the Khitan in the northeast, the Tubo in the west and the Nanzhao in the southwest.

In order to facilitate external warfare, strengthen control over border areas and prevent foreign invasions, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang established nine Jiedushi and one Jinglรผeshi in the border areas. The military, administrative and financial affairs within their jurisdiction were all under their management, just like a local lord.

Before the An-Shi Rebellion broke out, their military strength was close to 500,000, of which An Lushan had 150,000 troops, far more than the 80,000 troops of the central imperial guards.

In addition, the border defense army had been through hundreds of battles, and its combat effectiveness was far higher than that of the capital, gradually forming a pattern of "light inside and heavy outside".

In the early days of the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang army was defeated repeatedly and was unable to resist for a while.

But as the war deepened, under the leadership of generals such as Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, the strength of the army was greatly restored.

Moreover, in this process, the number of vassal states was constantly decreasing, and a large number of troops were incorporated into the court, which also expanded the direct management scope of the court, and no Jiedushi was able to compete with the Tang Dynasty.

However, political corruption played a huge role after the war, and the Tang Dynasty was unable to readjust in time, but quickly returned to normal.

Officials continued to be greedy, and nobles continued to annex land on a large scale. Finally, the Huang Chao Uprising completely shook the ruling foundation of the Tang Dynasty.

As for Zhu Wen's final destruction of the Tang Dynasty, it was just a matter of convenience. At that time, the Tang Dynasty had lost its luck and had no tomorrow.

Although the teenage Emperor Wanli still didn't understand some things, Wei Guangde told him that the consequences of official corruption and land annexation would cause the court to lose its main source of tax revenue.

Without money, the court would have no army, and it would be impossible to stabilize its rule. It would only be a matter of time before the emperor stepped down.

In the past, the young emperor Zhu Yijun was still thinking about how to make money after he took power.

Today, I heard in Ciqing Palace that the money was minted by the court, and the materials for minting money were minted from mining.

Thus, a perfect economic cycle logic gradually took shape in the mind of the young emperor.

Control the mines to dig resistance, and then let the Ministry of Industry mint coins, and he would have money.

When the emperor had money, he could recruit a lot of troops to stabilize his rule, and then look for more mines to mine, mint more money, and recruit more troops.

How could Wei Guangde know what Zhu Yijun was thinking.

Back to the cabinet, he quickly drafted an edict, handed it to Zhang Juzheng for polishing, and then went to the Silijian.

Feng Bao was still serving in Ciqing Palace, but the news had been passed back, so the Silijian approved it quickly and sent it to the six departments until the edict was issued.

With Wei Guangde supervising from the side, the edict process went very fast.

After all the procedures were completed, the eunuchs in the inner court took the imperial edict and went straight to the Ministry of Revenue to convey the edict. After that, the six ministries including the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War had to go through it, and then it would be posted outside the imperial city.

Wanping County and Daxing County would also receive the edict soon, and then copy it and post it everywhere to inform the people.

On that day, the troops of Jiucheng Bingmasi escorted the one million taels of silver that the Ministry of Revenue had prepared long ago to the Baoyuan Bureau of the Ministry of Works.

The entire Shidaren Hutong in Dongcheng, Beijing, was already guarded every three steps and sentry every five steps. When one million taels of silver were sent here, the alert level was naturally raised very high.

After moving the capital to Beijing, Zhu Di, the Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, set up a new Baoyuan Bureau in Shidaren Hutong in Dongcheng, Beijing, which was affiliated to the Ministry of Works and specialized in copper coin casting.

During the Hongwu Dynasty, Baoquan Bureau was set up in various provinces to mint copper coins to meet the circulation of copper coins in the local area.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang later wavered in the monetary policy of the Ming Dynasty because the Ming Baochao repeatedly stopped the Baoquan Bureau in various provinces.

It should be noted that the Baoquan Bureau was not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, but the Ministry of Households. After all, the Ministry of Households has many comprehensive functions such as the current Ministry of Finance + Ministry of Civil Affairs + Ministry of Transportation + Ministry of Construction.

Specifically speaking, it is in charge of the national territory, fields, household registration, taxes, salaries and finances, minting coins and other livelihood issues.

Of course, this includes the Baoquan Bureau responsible for minting coins.

Thus, a slightly complex coinage system of the Ming Dynasty was formed, namely the Baoyuan Bureau of the Ministry of Industry in the capital and the Baoquan Bureau of the Ministry of Revenue in various provinces.

The Ministry of Revenue established the Baoquan Bureau in the capital and took control of the coinage power only during the Tianqi period.

Under the new coinage system, the Baoquan Bureaus in various provinces will be under the control of the Ministry of Industry, and will still focus on purchasing copper materials and casting copper coins in various places, while the Baoyuan Bureau in the capital will be responsible for casting gold, silver and copper coins.

The main task of the Baoquan Bureaus in various provinces is still to purchase copper materials and cast copper coins for circulation in various places.

At this time, dozens of carriages and dozens of wheelbarrows were crowded in Shidaren Hutong.

How much is one million taels of silver?

According to the regulations of the government in the early Ming Dynasty for the transportation of silver, if a special official leather box is used, it is easy to identify with red paint.

Each box can only hold one thousand taels of silver, which is not much, and one person can carry it, so the box is not big.

No matter it is a silver ingot of ten taels, fifty taels, or even one hundred taels, each box can only hold one thousand taels, which is also convenient for officials to count.

Each box is sealed with a seal, on which the name of the sealer will be written, so it is easy to trace when the box is opened.

In fact, in the nearly two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, there has never been a case where the number of silver ingots is wrong after opening the box.

What a joke, whoever participated in the sealing of the box is well-known, and no one dares to tamper with it even if they are desperate. It is a sure thing.

A box only holds one thousand taels of silver, and the silver allocated by the Ministry of Revenue is one million taels, which is one thousand silver boxes.

On the wheelbarrows of dozens of taels, each car has two boxes on each side, one on the left and one on the right, to maintain balance, and there are two boxes on the top to press down the box below to maintain stability.

In other words, it is a bit too much to take out a thousand boxes at once, and the carriages usually prepared in the warehouse are a bit insufficient, so the wheelbarrows are also used.

As for the rest, they are naturally loaded on the carriages and pulled over.

At this moment, the officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works were counting the silver boxes there, and they would open a box for random inspection from time to time.

It was not that they were serious about their work, but they were just going through the motions. The silver sent out by the Ministry of Revenue must be inspected in the box.

"This is my first time delivering silver, and the higher-ups have repeatedly ordered that it is not allowed to deduct."

An official from the Ministry of Revenue whispered to the official from the Ministry of Works next to him.

"Who said it wasn't? In the past, when it was cast into silver ingots, we could say that the fineness was not enough and deduct some. In the future, when it is all cast into silver coins, it is just a matter of counting the number, and it will be difficult to do anything small."

The official from the Ministry of Works next to him muttered in a low voice.

"Then you can mix something else in it."

As soon as the official from the Ministry of Revenue said this, the official from the Ministry of Works shook his head like a rattle.

"The neck is not as hard as a knife. This time is different. If the weight and fineness of the cast silver treasures are different, all the officials involved will be killed."

The people in the mint were all officials of low rank, and it was actually very simple to kill them.

The two officials discussed it openly. After all, embezzlement was an unspoken rule of the court. The embezzled silver was not his exclusive right. It had to be returned to the small treasury of the Ministry of Revenue and then distributed according to the rank of the official.

Yes, why was corruption so serious in the Ming Dynasty? The fundamental reason was that everyone benefited, so naturally no one said anything.

At the local level, officials made money by levying additional taxes. For example, the additional taxes imposed by the governor or the governor-general were generally an additional silver coin on the basis of one or two silver coins of the regular tax. Part of this silver fell into the hands of the governor-general and the governor-general, and the rest was distributed by the prefect and the county magistrate.

The additional silver imposed by a prefecture was distributed by the prefect and the county magistrate, and it would not all fall into their own pockets, but would be equally shared.

The county magistrate was an official official of the court. They would not collect taxes in person, but through the clerks. They just had to hand in what they deserved.

The clerks could also embezzle when collecting taxes. In the Ming Dynasty, as long as the tax revenue came from physical objects, the bulk was actually grain.

When the people paid their grain, the government used a hu to hold it. The people put the grain into the hu, weighed it, and calculated their share of the grain.

The grain pile should be piled up in a pointed shape, and some of it will exceed the wall of the hu.

Just when the people were relieved that they had paid the public grain, the clerks would usually kick the hu with lightning speed, and the grains that exceeded the wall of the hu would fall to the ground.

This is the tip-kick hu, and the part kicked out is the so-called loss in grain transportation, which becomes the legal income of the clerks. The most critical part of this move is the kicking hu.

Because clerks, like military positions, are mostly hereditary, it is said that there are often family-inherited skills, which is this kicking hu.

In order to master this kick, the clerks need to practice hard for a long time. The specific method is said to be to find a tree near their home first, start by kicking the tree, and the highest level is when the trunk does not move and leaves fall.

Xuli, in fact, is a general term for the people in the three classes and six rooms in ancient times. The "three classes" refer to the Zao class, Zhuang class and Kuai class, and the "six rooms" refer to the Li, Hu, Li, Bing, Xing and Gong rooms. They are the basic personnel composition of the yamen.

At the central level, it is naturally not so mean. You can't give a kick to the local officials who bring grain to hand it in.

Therefore, the silver allocated by the court to the lower level became the main source of income for the officials, that is, floating.

Generally, the silver allocated by the court, from the Ministry of Households to the corresponding yamen and then transported out of the capital, will be deducted by one or two percent.

A part of this silver will be distributed as welfare to officials in their respective yamen in the form of ice and charcoal. It can be said that everyone can share this silver, while the other part will be directly divided privately by the officials in charge.

Even if the most honest officials can refuse to divide the silver that has been lost privately, can they refuse the welfare silver distributed by the yamen?

If you refuse, do you not even want the silver for the clerks and firewood?

Over time, there will be no honest officials in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde does not intend to confront the officialdom and clean up those unspoken rules, but he still wants to change some things that can be changed.

It is this coinage, which he will forcefully promote from the beginning.

If these officials are in accordance with their nature, the silver that the court can earn on the books is not even enough for them to lose.

At that time, will they give him less weight in the quality of the silver coins? Then the silver coins of the Ming Dynasty will become a joke, and it is still said that the silver treasures of the Ming Dynasty are circulated all over the world.

If you want to lose it, you just embezzle the silver coins when they are issued, but there is absolutely no room for error in the casting process of silver coins. He doesn't want to become a joke and go down in history.

To put it bluntly, Wei Guangde didn't dare to challenge the entire civil service group, but he also wanted to leave a way to barely maintain the Ming Dynasty, so when the court began to mint silver coins, it was necessary to set an iron rule so that the court could have a stable income through the right to mint coins.

After the one million taels of silver were counted, the people from the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Works withdrew, leaving only the official troops of the Baoyuan Bureau and the Wucheng Bingmasi guarding here.

After all, unlike the copper materials used in the previous coinage, this time it was all silver, which was much more valuable.

The changes in Shi Daren Hutong naturally spread throughout the capital very quickly, and the news that the court began to mint silver coins spread rapidly in the market.

At this time, Wei Guangde was also in the cabinet duty room, and received the first intelligence about Myanmar from Liu Shouyou.

However, in Wei Guangde's eyes, the originally happy mood because the coinage issue was settled was instantly hit the bottom.

Yes, in the past few decades, the situation in Myanmar can be said to have changed greatly, and the earlier pattern can basically no longer be seen.

The Ming court set up six Xuanweisi in the extreme border areas west and south of Yunnan, namely Mengyang Xuanweisi, Mubang Xuanweisi, Myanmar Xuanweisi, Babai Xuanweisi, Cheli Xuanweisi and Lao Xuanweisi, which have either been annexed by the newly emerging Toungoo Dynasty or are on the way to being annexed.

"This Toungoo Dynasty annexed Mubang and Cheli, defeated Siam several times, and now the army is besieging the Lao Xuanweisi.

If Laos is occupied by it, will Mengyang be the next one?"

Wei Guangde frowned and said.

Liu Shouyou did not dare to answer. He was also shocked when he saw this information. Who would have thought that the Myanmar Xuanweisi was so powerful? He had controlled three of the six Xuanweisi appointed by the court, and also controlled Siam.

It can be said that most of the areas west and south of Yunnan have actually been occupied by the Toungoo Dynasty.

โ€œDoes Yunnan know about this?โ€

Wei Guangde shouted angrily.

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