Qin Dewei was also helpless. It was just good for the emperor. What else could we do if we were faced with an emperor who liked to engage in political struggles?
We can only use the tactics of political struggle to seduce the emperor's immersion.
Otherwise, if the emperor doesn't like to hear it or can't listen to it, no matter how reasonable you are, it will be in vain.
However, there is a rule in the Ming Dynasty that ministers generally do not openly and directly criticize the emperors of previous dynasties, let alone the previous emperors of this dynasty. This is the etiquette of a monarch and his ministers.
As an emperor, Emperor Jiajing certainly upheld this kind of etiquette for the monarch and his ministers, and Emperor Jiajing was an emperor who was particularly sensitive to etiquette.
Therefore, even Emperor Jiajing could not publicly criticize the first two emperors, namely Ming Xiaozong and Ming Wuzong, nor would he allow ministers to criticize Xiaozong and Wuzong.
As a time traveler, Qin Dewei also has to abide by the Basic Law. It is impossible to directly criticize Xiao Zong and Wu Zong to please the emperor, but he can just present the facts and reason.
Seeing that the emperor was interested, he said a few more words in detail: "At the time of the Xiaomiao and Wumiao temples, the middle officials and honorary relatives were rampant and lawless. In addition to occupying the fields, they also petitioned for salt in large numbers!
This resulted in the excessive proliferation of salt in the two dynasties and the difficulty in supporting salt. As a result, the Salt Law was greatly damaged, which was one of the reasons why it was difficult to maintain the Kaizhong Law.
And since His Majesty came to the throne, he has worked hard to govern, strictly restrain the middle-ranking officials, honor relatives, and sweep away the old customs!
That’s why I dare to say that we have the foundation to correct the chaos and restore the method of opening up..."
All the civil servants could find nothing wrong with him. What Qin Dewei said were all plain facts.
The relatives of the Zhang family in the Hongzhi Dynasty and the Eight Tigers of the Zhengde eunuchs are all typical bad representatives who can be recorded in the history books. No matter how bad they are today, at least they do not condone such people.
Emperor Jiajing admitted the truth for the first time today and began to think about it secretly.
As a person, I was once forced by a minister to recognize Xiaozong as my father, so my attitude toward Xiaozong was very sensitive and awkward.
After successfully refusing to recognize Xiaozong as his father, Emperor Jiajing became obsessed with the legitimacy of his own lineage, always eager to prove something.
Therefore, the four words "bringing order to order" were very attractive to Emperor Jiajing and gave him a little driving force.
But there must be opponents, and Academician Cai Angcai further admonished: "The Kaizhong Law has been suffering from disadvantages for a long time, and it is difficult to implement. It has been abolished for forty years!
Nowadays, the color-changing method has no accumulated disadvantages. If you want to go against the trend and restore the old method, it will be a waste of time and money, and it is really not worth it!"
Some people immediately agreed that the salt law system can be passed now, and there is no need to go back and make trouble.
Qin Dewei sighed and fired a casual sentence: "Your Majesty has been in the imperial court for more than ten years and has been seeking treatment day and night, but so far he has not been able to achieve success.
Originally, I didn’t quite understand what the problem was, but today when I saw Xueshie Cai and others, I suddenly understood.
With such short-sighted people filling the court, how can the world be able to achieve great governance?"
Emperor Jiajing, who was very particular about etiquette, felt that Qin Dewei was really outrageous and scolded: "There are no rules! If you can't make sense, I'll give him a forty imperial stick!"
Qin Dewei quickly restrained his posture and said cautiously: "It's not that I'm impudent, I just feel that Cai Xueshi and others are in vain as officials, but they don't understand the true meaning of the Chinese method. I feel that our Ming Dynasty lacks talents, and I am deeply disappointed!"
While the emperor was not having an attack, Qin Dewei hurriedly began to speak: "When Emperor Taizu Gao was the emperor, there was a case of the North and South List.
Because the scholars chosen by the examiners were all from the south and none from the north were on the list, Emperor Gao killed all the examiners.
Later, Emperor Gao set the ratio of the northern and southern rankings to ensure that the candidates for the imperial examination would not all be concentrated in the southeast.
With the great talent and broad strategy of Emperor Taizu Gao, he naturally understood the principle of balance between the north and the south. Our ancestors have taught us before us, so why do people like Cai Xueshi deliberately pretend not to know?"
Most of the people were academics, and they didn't turn around for a while. They didn't know why Qin Dewei suddenly brought up this old matter.
He then heard Qin Dewei continue to say: "Half of the world's salt production is Huai salt. To put it simply, the Kaizhong method means transporting grain to border towns in the north, and then supplying salt to the southeast.
Could it be that the trouble of traveling thousands of miles was just to ensure that the border towns had enough supplies?
Its fundamental meaning is to use the salt wealth of the southeast to subsidize the border towns in the north!
Our ancestors even paid attention to the balance between the north and the south in the imperial examination ceremony, so don’t we need it for economic wealth?”
This angle was quite novel, and everyone in the hall fell into deep thought for a moment.
Qin Dewei stared at Cai Ang and said aggressively: "Senior Cai, do you still want to ask, what does the poverty of the northern border towns have to do with the southeast?"
Academician Cai wanted to refute, but he didn’t think so!
But Qin Dewei only asked and answered his own questions and did not give Academician Cai a chance to speak:
"Preventing the Northern Tartars is a matter for the entire Ming Dynasty, not just a few border towns in the north!
Do the northern border towns deserve to fight to the death with the Tartars every year, while the southeastern half only needs to enjoy peace?
Therefore, our ancestors were far-sighted and took the trouble to use the central method to transfer material resources from the southeast to support the northern border towns.
After changing to the folding method, the southeast was actually cut off from the border towns! It was the imperial court and the southeastern salt merchants who united to squeeze the northern salt merchants!
If the color-folding method continues, in the future the salt merchants of Huaihe and Huaihe will be southeast merchants who are closer to the salt fields, and their wealth will remain in the southeast!
The poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer. The northern border towns are all people of the Ming Dynasty. If the people's livelihood is in decline, what can they do to fight against the Tartars?
So, has Your Majesty ever realized the profound meaning of Emperor Taizu Gao?"
Everyone: ""
You, Qin Dewei, can imitate Taizu and Emperor Gao, and you are also a talented person. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is a great honor for the emperor.
Cai Ang finally found an opportunity to retort: "The silver collected by the Zhese method can be transferred to the border town!"
Qin Dewei asked back: "Can silver be eaten? Can silver be worn? The border town is short of supplies, so what's the use of only giving money?"
Don’t you hear that during the most expensive period, the price of food in the northwest border town soared to five liang and one stone, ten times that of the mainland! How much money can be paid to fill the belly of the frontier army?"
Qin Dewei was too lazy to continue to refute Academician Cai, and told Emperor Jiajing: "Cai Ang's empty talk is harmful to the country, please observe it clearly.
I now have a guess that Cai Ang came out of Huai'an Mansion, and his relatives, friends or servants must be trafficking in Huai salt. If this is true, please expel Cai Ang and other people who are selfish and harm the country."
Then Qin Dewei added kindly: "If the guess is wrong, I am willing to fine you half a year's salary!"
Emperor Jiajing still didn't express his position, he was thinking about something.
Qin Dewei also secretly sighed that Emperor Jiajing could still be saved at this time. Although his character was not good, he proved that he still had some thoughts.
It’s just that no one could clearly see the general trend of history, and Emperor Jiajing still couldn’t figure it out.
If he traveled to 21 years after Jiajing, only gods could save him.
Because you can't wake up a person who is pretending to sleep. The emperor after the 21st year of Jiajing was just a person who pretended to be asleep.
Emperor Jiajing had an extreme personality. When his mood got high, he would get angry. When his mood went down, he would feel extremely sad. Then he became a cultivating emperor.
Qin Dewei thought about it a lot and decided to take some more drastic measures, so he said seriously:
"Your Majesty, do you remember the changes in the number of days that I talked about? If there is a cold weather in a hundred years, the situation in Bianzhen will be even worse. How will it be maintained then?"
With "bringing order out of chaos" as the driving force, "ancestral justice" as the prestige, and another "number of days" deception, if you don't believe the emperor, you still won't obey!