Overseas in this era are basically barbaric lands, not to mention that the fire of Western civilization has not yet been ignited. It is still in the long night of the Middle Ages. Simply speaking, in the minds of the Ming Dynasty, the concept of a heavenly kingdom exists. Unless it is a last resort, it is absolutely impossible.
I don’t want to go overseas to make a living.
Not to mention, the place where Guo Huan is located is Hangzhou, where there is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below. It can be said to be one of the best places in the Ming Dynasty.
Why would Guo Huan want to go overseas?
When the time comes, he may not be able to enjoy what he enjoys now no matter how much money he has when he is with the savages.
But, things have come to this point.
Guo Huan was already desperate.
Not to mention, Guo Huan knew that if the things he committed were exposed to the world, his fate would only be death, a miserable death, or life or death. Not to mention, sometimes he would be killed.
The person may not be Zhu Yuanzhang, but some people behind him.
After all, he was not responsible for such a big thing. But many people hope that Guo Huan will bear it alone.
Living people may not be able to, but dead people cannot speak.
Guo Huan only had this path in front of him.
Hongwu's early sea ban policy was not strict. Not to mention where Zhejiang is.
It was one of the maritime trade bases in the Yuan Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was only a dozen years old, and the maritime trade in the Yuan Dynasty was not yet dead. Guo Huan could naturally find a suitable candidate. But this determination was not easy to make.
Guo Huan also hopes for better news to come.
But he was delusional.
After waiting for three days, there was no news at all.
Guo Huan couldn't bear it anymore. So he packed up his gold and silver, took his family with him, and prepared to board the ship from Hangzhou. He would first go to Ningbo, and then transfer to the sea. First, he would rest on a desert island on the sea. As for where he would go, he didn't know where.
.
Just when Guo Huan was about to leave the city, a servant suddenly came to report that Lord He was visiting.
Guo Huan was shocked and asked quickly: "How many people did he bring?"
The servant reported back and said: "I only brought two companions."
Guo Huan stood up and wandered back and forth. He called his close associates and said, "Go to Mr. Wang immediately and tell him this."
The confidant immediately got up and left. Only then did Guo Huan straighten his clothes and go out to greet him.
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He Xi had already been drinking tea in the living room. Xu Baoer and Wang Qianli were standing behind He Xi. Xu Baoer still had some palaces, and his expression remained unchanged, but Wang Qianli was very nervous, with his hand pressed on the waist knife, the back of his hand
The veins in his upper body popped out, and he looked calm, but in fact he was exerting force.
Before Guo Huan arrived, his voice came first. Hearty laughter came from the back of the house. He said, "Master He, haven't you already returned to Beijing? Why did you come back again? But is there anything you forgot to explain?"
Guo Huan came in from behind and greeted He Xi. He acted smoothly and without any unnaturalness. He Xi couldn't tell from Guo Huan's face what he wanted, such as fear, uneasiness, worry, etc.
This alone makes Guo Huan admirable.
If He Xi hadn't known through Mao Xiang's intelligence system that Guo Huan was going to grease his feet, he probably wouldn't have been able to tell.
He Xi said: "Master Guo, don't you know why I go and come back?"
Guo Huan said sincerely: "I really don't know, please give me some advice from Mr. He. If Guo did something wrong, please forgive me. Or if there is anything that needs to be done after being promoted to the capital, please ask Mr. He to point out something."
The connection?”
"By the way. Mr. He went and came back. Is this really the reason for this?"
He Xi was silent for a while and said, "I heard that Mr. Guo is planning to move?"
Guo Huan said: "Yes, I have been in Hangzhou for many years. It is worth tens of thousands of yuan to break the family. To be honest, I can't bear to part with many of them. This is not to go to the capital. I will leave the things here to the next generation. It is estimated that no one wants them, so I will
I want to send these stupid, bulky things to my hometown in advance so that I can pack lightly and go to Nanjing."
He Xi said: "Is that really the case?"
Guo Huan said: "Don't you think so, Lord He?"
He Xi no longer wants to have a confrontation with Guo Huan.
In fact, both of them knew what the other knew. And the reason why He Xi came here was actually to drag Guo Huan off.
After all, Guo Huan has been operating in Hangzhou for so long, and he has probably brought down the city of Hangzhou long ago. He Xi and Mao Xiang stayed outside the city for this reason. They were waiting for someone. Mao Xiang was waiting for Suzhou's Jinyi Weiqian.
The household is here. And He Xi has someone he wants to wait for.
At this time, Guo Huan showed signs of running away, forcing them to take action in advance.
He Xi felt that he came to see Guo Huan, while Mao Xiang acted in other ways.
He Xi's original intention was to waste time with Guo Huan by talking nonsense, but after a few words, she felt something was wrong. On the one hand, Guo Huan had something to say, but on the other hand, he did not quarrel with each other and seemed to be wasting time.
He Xi changed her mind and said: "Mr. Guo, I respect you as a person. There is no need to say that you are talking in circles. In fact, I have met Mr. Guo several times. But I believe one thing. Mr. Guo
He really has the talent of a minister of household affairs, no, he has the talent of a prime minister. It's a pity that he has reached this point."
"I really feel sorry for Mr. Guo."
What He Xi said was a bit exaggerated, but it was not wrong.
When it comes to corruption, Guo Huan was able to put everything in order in the officialdom. He was able to run the business from top to bottom without leakage. If this ability is used in the right way, it is not necessarily impossible to be a minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Or even a prime minister, maybe
Somewhat exceeded. But not all the prime ministers in the world are superior in ability. Guo Huan is always better than those three ministers who are waiting for the throne.
Guo Huan's expression remained unchanged and he said: "It's a pity that the Ming Dynasty does not need a prime minister."
He Xi said: "Can you tell me why?"
Guo Huan said: "Why? For political achievements."
He Xi was stunned. This answer was beyond He Xi's expectation. He had thought about many things. For example, Guo Huan had a miserable childhood and he needed money. But He Xi never expected that Guo Huan was doing it for political achievements.
This is simply the opposite.
Who doesn't know Zhu Yuanzhang's zero tolerance for corruption? Why would a man who wanted political achievements and promotion make such a mistake?
This is simply a joke.
Guo Huan sneered a little miserably and said, "Why don't you believe it? Do you know how many officials there are in the Ming Dynasty?" Guo Huan didn't wait for He Xi to speak and said, "Including the capital and local officials, there are about twelve thousand high-level officials.
People. Do you know how many officials there are in Hangzhou? There are only four or five hundred people in Hangzhou city alone. Is that many? Not many at all. Do you know how many things are going on in Hangzhou city alone without mentioning Zhejiang? Land taxes need to be collected, city walls need to be built,
The tide in Qiantang is fierce, and dams need to be built. The streets in the city need to be cleaned, roads repaired, and commercial taxes collected. There are also various lawsuits involving names. As for building water conservancy, encouraging students, etc., I don’t know how many. How many people are needed to handle this? "
"How many officials are there in Hangzhou? How many are working for the government?"
"In the entire city of Hangzhou, there are more than 10,000 white-coated people working for the yamen. This is still the smallest number."
"These people all want money."
"Although the imperial court levied taxes, it allowed various places to retain them, but this was very limited. Moreover, the transfer to various places directly allowed the county to connect with the various health offices. Or it connected with the imperial court, and the grain chief transported it. The money and grain in my hands are very limited. But
If you want to do something, how can you have no money?"
"Where does this money come from?"
"Appropriate it from various places and let big households donate it."
He Xi sneered and said: "But Zhejiang is short of at least one or two million shi of grain, and the accounts you gave to the court are also very empty. Is this the political achievement you seek?"
He Xi didn't know much about the grassroots level of the Ming Dynasty. But he still knew about some situations.
Guo Huan is right.
The financial system created by Zhu Yuanzhang was very confusing.
The biggest problem is that Zhu Yuanzhang viewed the development of things as static rather than dynamic. He also had extreme distrust of officials. For these two reasons, Zhu Yuanzhang designed the fiscal policy.
First of all, it is very rigid. For example, the grain taxes in various places are not transported from the county to the prefecture, the prefecture to the province, and the province to the central government. Instead, the county directly corresponds to a certain unit that consumes grain, such as a certain health center or a warehouse in the capital.
.without passing through the hands of officials.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, this method allows the people to take care of themselves, which can reduce the harm done to the people by corrupt officials.
Secondly, there is no system at all.
Although there is a retention of taxes in each county, where is the retention calculated? It is the total of various expenditures in the county originally determined. If the county's various expenditures in a certain year were 10,000 dan, then the county's retention
Ten thousand shi, and the rest are all used. More importantly, these 10,000 shi were allocated before. How much is the county government, the inspection department said, how much is the county school, etc.
In other words, there is almost no degree of fiscal freedom in various places.
Not to mention the county magistrate. Even the chief envoy does not have much money to spend flexibly.
It is simply treating officials as thieves.
Well, in Zhu Yuanzhang's view, this official was a thief. He was even more ruthless than a thief. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang fixed all the money and food as much as possible to reduce the officials' room for manipulation. This was also Zhu Yuanzhang's love for the people.
Because in Zhu Yuanzhang's view, whenever officials are given discretionary power, they will definitely use these discretionary powers to do bad things. Even in modern times, the face of some local bureaucrats is like this.
However, this also has huge side effects.
Everything requires money. Even when an official wants to make a difference, he still has money. If an official does not have the money at his disposal, he cannot do anything. Therefore, Guo Huan said this, and it is not necessarily true.
reason.
However, it makes sense, and this can be regarded as one of the bad policies of the Ming Dynasty. But looking at Guo Huan, we know that it makes sense for Zhu Yuanzhang to design the system in this way. Zhu Yuanzhang has treated officials as thieves to guard against it. In the end, Guo Huan was
Such a shocking thief like Huan.
If Guo Huan really wanted to achieve political results, he would just have to make up for it with money and food later.
But a few million stones of grain and food were enough for Zhu Yuanzhang to fight another battle at Poyang Lake. Is this for political achievements? This chapter has been completed!
