Since the Qin and Han dynasties, all dynasty's major political affairs have always prioritized worshiping the capital. As the saying goes, "Things must be done in the four directions and must be in the center. The saints hold the key and the four directions follow suit."
From the Qin to the Northern Song Dynasty, the change track of the capitals of each dynasty was Chang'an-Luoyang-Kaifeng from west to east; from the Southern Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this change track became Hangzhou-Nanjing-Beijing, from south to north.
route. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in the middle can be regarded as the transitional period of the Great Turn.
As the political center of the dynasty continued to move north, the economic center continued to move south. The status of water transportation became higher and higher. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the administrative organization network centered on water transportation made the Grand Canal the core blood vessel of the empire.
.The economic activities such as material transportation and the radiation of administrative power extended from this artery eventually formed the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal political and economic belt - the core circle of the two empires of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Later scholars believed that before the Tang and Song dynasties, the canals were mainly located in the Central Plains and developed in a multi-branch and leaf shape, connecting many regions and playing a significant role in balancing the economy. However, during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the canals were elongated and the economic belts were linearly distributed.
Leaving the central and western parts of the empire outside the core circle is not conducive to the unification of the empire - it can be regarded as a family idea.
Baojingshi, the fundamental political and economic model of the feudal empire, completely politicized the canal. In order to maintain the smooth flow of water transportation, the central governments of all dynasties have spared no effort to maintain smooth water transportation. The sacrifice of local interests cannot be reconciled with the political correctness of the smooth water transportation.
contend.
The smooth flow of water transportation comes at the cost of huge waste of manpower, material resources, and financial resources. To transport one stone of rice from Suzhou to the capital, it costs two stone of rice. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, an average of four million stone of rice was transported to the capital every year.
, the freight amounted to 8 million dan per year. In addition to the annual dredging of rivers, the establishment of management officials and cadres, the repair of canal boats, the establishment of farms, etc., the expenses were huge.
The huge waste and expenditure resulted in the formation of a huge political and economic interest group around the canal. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was much better to have a canal. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the central government was almost always kidnapped by the canal.
A powerful interest group has formed around the bureaucratic group of water transportation and the people who are employed and begging for water transportation. The biggest benefit group is of course - canal bureaucrats. They benefit in various ways? The most important thing is to continue to create
Floods? Build river control projects and enrich your own pockets.
The so-called "River officials are extravagant, rich in money, sleeping until they are old and unable to decide. They are also controlled by water transportation, and all those who do it are corrupt." In the Ming Dynasty? Since the founding of the ancestors, the records of the emperors of the past dynasties show that canals burst almost every year.
Record - regardless of flood or drought.
Officials of all provinces who communicate with the Cao Cao are all interested in the various "shallow fees, gate crossing fees, Huai River crossing fees, garrison fees, reminder fees, and storage fees". Even the humble captain of the Cao Army has
"Brilliant clothes and angry horses, restaurants and karaoke houses, millions of dollars spent on squandering them all turned to ashes."
In addition to these corruptions? Because the water transportation connects the north and the south, officials at all levels often carry private goods for profit. By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, these officials colluded with the evil forces and developed to the point where they hid the criminal population and relied on their power to commit murders.
In the name of obstructing the river? Extorting business people or even killing people for money.
However, even though most water transport officials are extremely corrupt, occasionally a breath of fresh air can emerge. Mr. Wang Zongmu is an oddity in this interest group.
The chief water transport officer in the Ming Dynasty? He was first the water transport envoy, and then the general water transport soldier. Finally, he became a civilian governor of water transport and admiral of military affairs, including Fengyang, supervising the rivers. Later, people thought that this official title was too long. He was generally called the governor of water transport or the chief water transport officer.
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This official position is usually preceded by the title Zuo Du Yu Shi? A third-grade official. Some statistics from later generations show that the average length of service for the Chief Cao Cao in the Ming Dynasty was 1.88 years, less than two years. Emperor Jiajing was in office for forty-five years.
Forty total cannons were replaced.
Why? There are too many interests involved in water transportation. The scope of power of the general water transport is involved with the water transport commander, water transport general, local state capital, river governor and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. As a special governor, he is involved with these
Departments and officials not only cooperate but also compete for management rights, so few general managers can achieve long-term results.
Wang Zongmu, courtesy name Xinfu, was born in Linhai, Zhejiang Province. He was a Jinshi in the 23rd year of Jiajing, and was promoted to Chief Cao from the position of Chief Envoy of Zuo of Shandong in the 5th year of Longqing.
[Uuyoushu www.uutxt.info] This man is a typical Ming Dynasty elite. He dared to sway with half a bottle of vinegar. When he took office, he wrote a memorial to Emperor Longqing to restore the sea canal. Zhu Yijun couldn't understand his memorial at all. The content he especially didn't understand was as follows.
:
"...the sea to the southeast is where all the waters in the world are connected. It is dim and has no mountains, and it seeks refuge. Near the south, the water is warm, and the Jiaolong Cave House...and the ground is high and rocky, and the Jiaolong Cave is the place where the dragons live."
There are goings and goings but there are no cave houses. Therefore, there is a sea market in Dengzhou, which is made of stone gas and water gas competing with each other and reflecting the stone. The stone gas can reach the water surface, so the stone can be used to remove the water and get closer... It can help the canal
I am so poor that my plan is inconvenient for this."
Zhu Yijun had a question mark on his head. He didn't know what the "Dragon Cave House" and "Stone, Air, Water and Air Phase Exposure" were. He understood other places clearly, but there was no analysis of benefits and workload, or the difference between sea-going ships and inland river ships.
I didn’t even mention it, but the general idea is that there are many islands in the sea east of Huai’an, all the way to Dengzhou, and the Laizhou area, which can provide shelter from the wind and the water is shallow, which can be used to transport grain.
Along with the memorial, there were also two books written by this man, "A Detailed Study of Maritime Transport" and "A Map of Maritime Transport" as attachments. Zhu Yijun flipped through it, and it was nothing more than a diagram. The level of contemporary cartography was not high, and neither was Zhu Yijun.
Demanding.
The "Detailed Examination" was full of successful cases of maritime transportation from the Yuan Dynasty to the Yongle period. As for how it was done, what the ships were like, and how the management organization worked, I couldn't find any of them after rummaging through them. Zhu Yijun rolled his eyes in anger.
What Zhu Yijun didn't know was that Wang Zongmu was evaluated in the Qing Dynasty's "Siku Synopsis": "Zongmu Gaipaoshi" stated in "The Supplement to the Explanations of the University" for his luck in fame. I don't know what Confucian scholars say about their economics on paper.
Principle, a hundred actions will not produce the same effect. Watching the Zongmu can be a bright warning for talking about the sea."
Although Wang Zongmu's advocacy of maritime transport was unreliable, Zhu Yijun still had to encourage and praise his dedication to serving the country. Wang Zongmu's contribution to water transport was not only to try sea transport, but also to have real achievements in the reform of water transport.
Insightful insights - not half-hearted this time.
Another major disadvantage of water transportation in the Ming Dynasty was the additional consumption when collecting water grains. During the Xuande period, the Ming court promulgated rules for the additional consumption of water grain transportation: the additional grain consumption for each stone taxed grain: eight dou in Huguang and seven dou in Jiangxi and Zhejiang
, South Zhili is six buckets, Shandong and Henan are three buckets.
Although there are rules and regulations, can governments at all levels let off the common people who pay food? Therefore, there are other levies, such as "two-pointed rice, rice consumed by rats, rice that moisturizes and nourishes, sifted rice" and so on.
, as well as the tax increase for customs clearance of canal ships and the apportionment of materials for building canal ships - all added up, the additional consumption of one stone of rice is basically one stone of rice, which means that the collection of grain is always doubled.
Such an increase in consumption would, of course, lead to the people's deprivation of life. Later, the imperial court had no choice but to deal with one after another disasters in the provinces that supplied the grain. Later, the Ming court reformed the grain collection - Zese. That is, it did not collect rice, but directly collected silver and copper coins.
After it is transported to the capital, the money is used to buy rice - merchants transport grain. These extra costs are gone, only the tax money for passing customs.
This color-folding method started from 100,000 shi during the Chenghua period and skyrocketed. By the Jiajing period, it reached a maximum of 2.11 million shi, accounting for more than half of the country's grain supply. By the time of Emperor Longqing, it became a rule, with one million shi per year.
Zhu Yijun came to power.
The collection of grain from the canal was originally a temporary measure to solve the disaster. It became a regular practice during the reign of Emperor Longqing. In fact, it was inevitable when the commodity economy developed to a certain extent.
In other words, large-scale grain trade has occurred in the grain-producing areas of the south, and farmers have money to trade. At this point in the development of water transportation, transportation is difficult, water ships are missing, and the canal army has fled. The original four million
The task of collecting and transporting grains from Shicao was out of reach. The solution to the ration problem of the people in the capital largely relied on the import of commercial grains.
Wang Zongmu's experience in water transport was a sensitive discovery of this point. Because the change of water transport touched the fundamental interests of the water transport interest group, there was always opposition in the court, and some people often said that the change of color violated the ancestral system, and cited Emperor Jiajing's
The then Governor of Water Transport criticized the policy of "from now on, we will abide by the ancestral system and do not change it lightly".
Wang Zongmu settled the accounts for the court: "What cannot be changed today is that the accumulation of capital is gradually decreasing... Every year, about three hundred stones are brought in, and one million is always put out to collect the surplus."
Each stone is discounted at eight qian, and put in at 5 qian, so as to get three qian, one million shi is equivalent to 300,000 gold. In addition, there are more than 3,250 warships reduced in stock, each of which is detained.
With two grains per month and a reward of forty taels of silver, I will get another 130,000 taels." If you do this for a few years, the country will make great profits.
What does it mean? Wang Zongmu believes that the annual grain production is a fixed number. If it is not in place A, it is in place B. If there is less food in the capital, the price of food will inevitably be high, and then merchants will transport the food to sell it, which will drive down the price of food.
The annual discount is based on the number of grain stones, which is equivalent to being already in the court's account. Therefore, because there is no additional consumption of grain for these one million stones, each stone will generate a book income of three coins of silver. This amount of silver
Of course it can be included in fiscal revenue, so "the country can benefit greatly."
How else could it be said that Wang Zongmu, the chief water transporter, was regarded as a weirdo? What he thought and did was always poaching the water transport interest groups - so it is not surprising that he was attacked by a swarm in the third year of Wanli.