Gao Pragmatic did not just follow the emperor's wishes and shout about cutting his salary and removing his title. Although he actually wanted to do this in his heart, people in politics should avoid being emotional, and should be especially cautious when managing politics.
Why is it said that governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies? Small delicacies are things like small fish and shrimps. If you accidentally handle this kind of tender food, if the heat is slightly overheated, it will be completely mushy, so there is no need to eat it.
The same is true for governing the country. Making decisions without planning or foresight will lead to big things. Governance must be realistic and down-to-earth, step by step. Just like the Red Dynasty, without Taizu exerting the power of Korea, there would be nothing.
There would be no environment for peaceful development; without Taizong abandoning the struggle between left and right, there would be no miracle of development in the forty years of surpassing Britain and pursuing the United States.
There are things that should be done in every period, and if you do what you should do at that time in every time period, this general trend will remain the same.
What is the trend of the Ming Dynasty now? It is indeed gradually "reviving", but it has also exposed some of its past shortcomings, and some things cannot be done.
If Gao Pragmatism had not appeared, the current Ming Dynasty would not have considered completely taking over Mongolia. After all, the Anda tribute in the Gao Gong era established the situation in the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty. At least Chahar could not threaten the life and death of the Ming Dynasty. Then, the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty were also
It would be impossible to rush to collect money to prepare to defeat the Mongolian right wing in one fell swoop, so issues such as vassal salaries would not seem so important or have to be dealt with.
This is not because the country has become weaker, on the contrary, it is precisely because the country has become stronger and has new and more ambitious goals that such urgent problems have arisen.
A person who travels a hundred miles is half a mile. The more it is at this time, the more you need to be calm and considerate, and you can't get into trouble internally because you are eager for success, which is completely contrary to the established goal.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic is not in a hurry to express his position or make suggestions. Instead, he wants to ask clearly about the actual current situation first.
However, although Zhu Yijun's level was certainly higher than in the original history, he still failed to understand the profound meaning of Gao Pragmatism. He just replied smoothly: "Last year, Taicang's annual income was more than 5.78 million taels, and the vassal's expenditure was about
1,640,000...or 1,670,000, I can’t remember exactly, but it’s probably this number.”
Gao Pangshi was about to nod, but Zhu Yijun immediately answered: "But the Ministry of Accounts has said that this year's money will only exceed 1.75 million taels."
Gao Pingshi was surprised by these words and asked: "One hundred thousand taels more a year?"
Zhu Yijun said distressedly: "I don't know whether it will be one hundred thousand taels more every year, but this year it will probably be the same."
A fixed expenditure that was already as high as more than 1.6 million taels now actually increases by 100,000 taels a year. Who can bear this? This expenditure originally accounted for a quarter of the Ming Dynasty's annual income. Now it is
We have to go straight to 30%. No matter who is in charge, we have to find a way to deal with this situation.
Looking at Zhu Yijun's expectant eyes, Gao Pragmatic did not directly give him a solution to the problem, because he knew that what Zhu Yijun expected most now was to solve the financial difficulties, not to solve the vassal issue.
This won't work.
Gao Pragmatism does not mean that he cannot start by increasing fiscal revenue and continue to suppress the clan issue, but that is meaningless, because judging from the current situation, the clan population explosion has already begun, and it will only become more serious the longer it is delayed.
"Your Majesty." Gao Pingshi was silent for a while, and then slowly said: "When the "Emperor Ming Ancestor Instructions" was promulgated, Taizu once issued an explicit order to instruct, "Anyone who dares to change the ancestral law in future generations will be regarded as a traitor."
On the other hand, there is no pardon. If I propose a new policy, I wonder what crime the emperor wants to convict me of?"
Zhu Yijun was stunned for a while, then suddenly lost his temper, slumped his shoulders and leaned on the back of the chair, feebly saying: "This ancestral system..." He hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Can you go around it?"
"You can give it a try." Gao Pragmatic said this, but at the same time he shook his head and said: "As for the court, most of the civil and military ministers and workers will agree, but Your Majesty, if you really want to do this, I'm afraid you have to do some things well.
Mentally prepare.”
When Zhu Yijun heard that there was a chance to go around, and Gao Pragmatic also judged that most of the civil and military officials of the court would support it, he couldn't help but cheer up. He didn't care much about what he said next, and just asked casually: "What preparations?"
Gao Pragmatic looked solemn and said: "There may be some... group incidents among the sects in the world."
Zhu Yijun's face suddenly stiffened, and he hesitated: "Rebellion? Isn't this... not enough?"
Can the current vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty rebel? Are you kidding? They are just these useless snacks. Not to mention they have no soldiers and no power for a long time. Even if they did, they would not be able to build one.
The current situation is that these vassal kings are basically useless, and the imperial court's attitude towards the control of sects and vassals, regardless of the practical school or the spiritual school, can basically be unanimous.
The reason is very simple. Where did the money that Zongfan got come from? It was given by the imperial court.
If the imperial court gives an extra tael of money to the vassals, wouldn’t we, the civil and military ministers, have one tael less to use? If the money we can control becomes less, won’t the power correspondingly become smaller? Can we still object?
Therefore, there is no problem with the attitude of the imperial court, and it may even be a situation where everyone is united.
The difficulty lies in the attitude of the vassals - of course it does not mean rebellion. Rebellion is basically impossible. How can a group of domestic pigs raised for two hundred years rebel? Even Zhu Bajie will not be able to use it.
It seemed that Zhu Yijun didn't quite understand the term "mass incident", so Gao Pragmatic changed his explanation: "Your Majesty, I'm not saying that there will be rebellion among the vassal by unscrupulous people. What I'm talking about is referring to gatherings of people to riot or make trouble.
, to put pressure on the court.”
Zhu Yijun let out a long "Oh" as if he suddenly realized something, but judging from his expression, he didn't realize there was any danger, and he might even think it was no big deal.
Gao pragmatic reminded: "Your Majesty, if only a few clans are like this, then it doesn't matter. The court has many ways to deal with it. But if there are too many clans involved, it will be very bad, and the political impact will be very bad."
"Really?" Zhu Yijun still seemed a little unconvinced.
Gao Pingshi sighed and had no choice but to give an example: "I will give you an example - Your Majesty, I forgive you. This is just an example, not what I want to imply."
Zhu Yijun nodded to express understanding: "You say."
"In Hongwu, there was only one Zhou prince's palace in Kaifeng, Henan." As a native of Henan, Xinzheng happened to be under the rule of Kaifeng, so he directly gave Kaifeng as an example: "By the Jiajing period, there were thirty-nine princes' palaces in Kaifeng alone.
There are more than 500 auxiliary generals, and the following lieutenants, ceremonial guests, etc. are even more numerous. If you take one government, you can know it all over the world. Now there are several decades during the Jiajing period, and the number of ministers who have been added has not yet been investigated in detail, but
It can also be deduced."
It was also the first time that Zhu Yijun knew that there were at least thirty-nine princely mansions in Kaifeng alone. He was stunned and speechless at the moment.
Before Gao Pangshi finished speaking, he continued: "I don't know how much money there is in Taicang. However, because the water transportation was changed to parallel river and sea transportation, Jinghua also participated in part of the sea transportation, so I know the distribution of the annual grain supply."
I wonder if the emperor knows the exact situation?"
Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "I only know that the capital needs about four million shi of food to be transported from the south every year. I don't know much about other details."
"Yes, the capital's food shortage is about four million shi per year." Gao Pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly: "But does the emperor know how much rice is needed for the various princes' palaces?"
This time he didn't wait for Zhu Yijun to answer and directly gave the answer: "It's 8.5 million shi, which is twice as much as the capital."
Zhu Yijun took a deep breath.
It’s hard not to gasp. With so many people in the capital eating, the shortfall is only four million shi. And these four million shi are so troublesome that the court has to set up a governor and a lot of officials to deal with the water transportation problem. Even
We also need to set up troops to escort along the way, etc.
However, in addition to this, the vassals in various places actually consume 8.5 million shi every year, which is more than twice what the capital requires! How much manpower, material and financial resources did the court spend to ensure continuous supply?
In other words, if there is no such big burden, what is the point of attacking a mere Chahar? Could it be that if 8.5 million stones of military rations were dropped, it would still not be able to hit a single Chahar?
But he suddenly remembered what Gao Pragmatic said before, and couldn't help but ask: "But that group incident you just mentioned..."
Gao pragmatically said calmly: "Yes, a mass incident - Your Majesty, the 8.5 million shilumi will be gone. What will these clans eat? Can we not make trouble?"
Zhu Yijun was really speechless.
Gao pragmatic continued: "The reason why I say that the feudal kings will not have the idea of rebellion is because each feudal king has a large amount of private property in addition to salary. Even if they lack this salary, the impact they will actually suffer
It’s also very small, and there’s no need for Lumi to cause trouble to his death and wipe out the country. The ones who will really get into trouble are those distant clan clans.”
Distant branch clan is actually a nice term, but in fact, high pragmatism refers to those low-level clans, and Zhu Yijun certainly knows this.
At this time, Zhu Yijun also understood what Gao Pragmatic meant, and nodded solemnly: "Yes, the vassals are actually not short of this Lumi. The ones who really rely on Lumi to survive are the distant branches."
Gao Pragmatic said: "The Lumi that these distant clan clans can get is at an extra discount, but they actually don't get much, and they can't serve as officials, nor can they farm, join the army, or do business. This Lumi is a
If it is cut off, their way of survival will be cut off. If they don't make trouble, they will just starve to death. How is this possible? Ants are greedy for life, how much more so than humans!
However, they are members of the clan, and they are not punished. Even if they break the law, they are not under the jurisdiction of the law. Instead, they can only go through the clan's mansion and finally be judged by the emperor himself. In this way, once they cause riots in various places, the local officials will inevitably take action.
If you think of things like burning, killing, looting, etc., not only will the Tian family lose face, but the local area will also be severely affected. Isn't it serious?"
Ah this...
Zhu Yijun also had a headache now. The clan punishment was not imposed on him. He could only let the clan government investigate and find out, and then hand it over to the emperor to make the decision. This was also an ancestral system - how could this ancestral system take care of everything? Don't you bother me?
!
Forget it, it’s just a bad idea!
For a moment, Zhu Yijun really wished he could find a copy of "Emperor Ming's Ancestral Instructions" and burn it.
But this is just a thought. If "Emperor Ming's Ancestral Instructions" can be burned, wouldn't he, the emperor, be replaced as well?
It's better this time. There has been a conflict and we are still in a dilemma.
"Then what should we do now?" Zhu Yijun scratched his head in an awkward manner: "There are already so many clans that the court can no longer afford to support them, but they still can't move! If it takes another ten years, what will I do to support them?
"
Originally, his words were just to vent his emotions. Unexpectedly, Gao Pragmatic nodded and said: "Yes, the emperor already understands the key to the problem."
Ah? Do I understand now? No, I don’t understand!
Gao pragmatic ignored the dull-looking emperor and nodded: "Yes, the key to the problem lies in the word 'raise' - why does the emperor have to raise all the clan members?"
Zhu Yijun was stunned and thought: I don't want to raise him. Isn't this also the ancestral teaching?
However, he was familiar with Gao Pragmatic, and he guessed that Gao Pragmatic was going to propose countermeasures. He couldn't help but feel hopeful, and pretended to be honest: "Ah, yes, yes, what you said is...but I'm still a little unsure.
, you might as well go into more detail..."
Very good, very on the road, this is the good emperor.
Gao Pragmatic said with a serious face: "Your Majesty, since the problem is 'raising', why not solve this problem?"
He let out a long sigh and said: "Today, the most serious and difficult situation in the world is none other than Zongfan, and the most urgent and difficult thing to deal with is none other than Zongfan. When I was compiling the "Da Ming Huidian", I tried to test the previous dynasties, but nothing happened.
There are clan members who sit and eat as county magistrates. My Taizu is the only one who favors his clan members and has been awarded titles and honors throughout his lifetime, which is a great kindness.
However, at the beginning of the birth of Tianhuang, Taizu entrusted several counties to make it easy to provide for him. As for today, when the clan branch is extremely prosperous, it exhausts the power of the world and is difficult to provide. In the general theory of the world, in the early days of the country, relatives, princes, counties,
There were only forty-nine generals, but now there are tens of thousands of them in the jade certificate. It is surprising that they have annual income of 8.5 million shi. The county, the county lord, and the guests of honor are not among them. So we compared
In the early days of our country, it was almost hundreds of times bigger, how can we still support it as before?"
Zhu Yijun hesitated and said: "If you don't raise it..."
Gao pragmatically said: "I think the emperor has two worries: one is whether he can circumvent the ancestral system, and the other is that not raising him will lead to clan turmoil."
Zhu Yijun nodded repeatedly: "That's right, that's right, I just think your method seems to be going back again."
"That's not the case." Gao Pingshi smiled and said: "First, the matter of bypassing the ancestral system has just been mentioned. As long as the emperor approves it and all civil and military officials agree, this ancestral system will be bypassed - it cannot be done by the whole world.
Are all the officials here treacherous? Naturally, times have changed, and some established laws have to be adapted."
Zhu Yijun nodded, very satisfied.
Gao pragmatic added: "As for the clan riots... In fact, the reason why they may harass is simply because they have lost their way of life. But what if the emperor and the court give them a way of life?"
Zhu Yijun hurriedly asked: "How to give it?"
"It's easy to give." Gao Pragmatic said calmly: "Just open the vassal ban."
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Old West of Altay", "Book Friends 20191018172646328", "Frost Vase", and "Cloudy Good Mood" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!