Gao Beitang was very considerate of the emperor's personal urging. Early the next morning, Gao Pragmatic, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and Zhou Yong, the Minister of the Ministry of War, co-signed and submitted the "In order to comply with the will of the Holy Spirit and alleviate the people's poverty and save money, please reform"
The Post and Mail Discussing Matters was sent to the cabinet, which was referred to as the Reform Post Post.
The chief minister of the cabinet that day happened to be Chief Assistant Shen Shixing. As soon as he saw that this "Revolutionary Station Essay" actually contained more than 20,000 words, he immediately knew that the real drama was coming. Shen Yuanfu quickly wrote this essay
Wen read it himself first. After reading it, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and thought for a while, and immediately sent someone to bring Wang Xijue to discuss the matter.
Yes, the previous "abolition of the grain chief system" controversy was proposed by Wang Xijue, Shen Shixing made the decision, and then the two cooperated to promote it secretly. The purpose is of course to target Gao Pragmatism.
The other people in Shen Yuanfu's duty room had already been invited out, and he was the only one in the whole room. He sat calmly and calmly, with the air of a prime minister.
Wang Xijue came in and glanced around, with a smile on his face, and said: "Looking at Yuan Fu's posture, I think Gao Rixin is finally willing to accept the challenge?"
"Yes." Shen Shixing nodded, stretched out his hand to make a gesture of invitation, and said: "Brother Yuan Yu, please sit down."
Wang Xijue thanked him, sat down on his own, and asked: "I wonder which of the three strategies I expected, the upper, middle and lower strategies, did Gao Rixin choose?"
"As I expected, Gao Rixin chose the best strategy." Shen Shixing smiled slightly: "Brother Yuan Yu, I remember that when you just returned to Beijing to join the cabinet, I told you that although Gao Rixin is young,
He has been acting like an old fox more than ten years ago. If you only regard him as a little fox, you are really mistaken."
After hearing what Shen Shixing said, Wang Xijue was not too surprised. He nodded and said, "What Yuan Fu said is true. This time he was able to give up both the worst and the middle strategy. This shows that this boy is not only smart, but also extremely determined.
To be honest, I once asked Quanzi about this strategy and asked Quanzi to think about how to deal with the situation I designed from Gao Rixin's point of view. At that time, Quanzi thought for a while and the answer was the best solution. I gave some advice.
After a few words, Quanzi thought about it again and again, and finally came up with the right strategy."
Wang Xijue sighed: "It's not Xijue's own boast, Quanzi is pretty good at reading, but it's a pity that when compared with Gao Rixin in these matters, the difference between the two cannot be measured by reason."
Wang Xijue's son Wang Heng once won the first place in the Shuntian Township Examination. Because some people were jealous and slandered the examination as fraudulent. Wang Xijue was furious and publicly stated that his son would no longer take the examination before he retired. Therefore, historically, Wang Heng was born in the 20th year of Wanli.
It was nine years before he took the imperial examination again, and he came in second place. He was ranked second just like Nai's father, and at the same time he rectified his reputation as Jie Yuan.
At this moment, Wang Xijue said that he was "quite good at studying." This was not bragging, and was even a bit too modest. However, Wang Xijue commented that his political level was not good. He only thought about the worst of the "three predetermined strategies", and even
After being given some advice, I just thought of the middle strategy, and it seems that...it’s not an understatement, it’s basically the truth.
However, Shen Shixing still advised him to be more open-minded and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty has not yet started his official career and does not know the dangers of officialdom. It is already good to think of a good strategy. Quanzi has been in the official position for many years, and I also used this strategy to test him. He thought about it all night
, I just thought of the middle strategy."
Wang Xijue shook his head and said: "The strategy I expected was to use Jinghua's strong financial resources to forcibly take over the grain taxes and gold and silver transportation from various places. The considerations and trade-offs involved in this strategy depend on whether Jinghua can
Accept this matter and the impact it will have after accepting it.
Quanzi reported a few numbers at that time, which probably meant that Jinghua only needed to invest in three ports, namely Tianjin, Shanghai, and Ningbo, or at most four ports including Guangzhou Port, to take over the matter. In his opinion,
Being able to take on such an important task is really a way to share the worries of the court and the emperor, and he will definitely be looked upon highly by the emperor, and will rely on him even more from now on. There is no greater good.
Then I reminded him, if Beijing alone controls the transfer of wealth in the world, and every move of the imperial court relies on its power, then who really has the power in the world?"
"Quuzi was stunned by my question, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses." Mr. Wangge sighed and said, "Then he said, if that's the case, then he can't accept this job, so it's better to launch a speech and use the ancestors to control it.
Easy and evasive.
In addition, he also said that since the implementation of the One Whip Method in Jiangnan and other places, the transportation of grain taxes has become the transportation of gold and silver, which has saved grain chiefs in various places a lot of trouble and expense. Therefore, it is possible to continue to promote the One Whip Method throughout the world.
When the two capitals and thirteen provinces only need the grain chiefs to transport gold and silver, the cost will naturally come down, and the grain chief system can barely be maintained... Haha, it's really naive."
Shen Shixing said helplessly: "It is difficult for the younger generation to take on the important responsibilities. What can we do except teach them carefully?"
After saying this, Shen Yuanfu shook his head as if mocking himself, and said: "But having said that, although this strategy has the potential to cause headaches and pain, if it is considered to avoid turmoil in the court, it is actually not a good idea.
It can also be regarded as a Tai Chi push. Although this strategy does not cure the root cause, it can at least cure the symptoms. We can wait until the situation changes in the future before making plans. It cannot be wrong at all, and it is still a prudent strategy."
"Prudent strategy?" Wang Xijue sneered from his nostrils and said solemnly: "If Gao Rixin was only as capable as a dog, he would have chosen the worst strategy or the middle strategy. I have at least three choices.
This method ruined his prestige. Not only did he look like an incompetent minister in the eyes of the emperor, but Xu Weizhen and Shen Zhonghua also seized the opportunity and severely attacked him within the Real School.
Maybe by that time, Gao Rixin will lose his false reputation as the 'world's most courageous scholar', and will no longer be the 'most desired assistant of the third generation'! If this can be done, I will at least be able to gain some insights from the inside of Xinxue.
When you have a chance to take a breather in the next year, select the underachievers and focus on training. If you compete with practical learning in the future, you will not have to worry about no one being able to succeed you."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Shen Shixing showed a wry smile and sighed: "But he is Gao Rixin after all. Brother Yuan Yu, he has been the prince's companion since he was eight years old.
In fact, he has been an official for almost twenty years now, how can he be regarded as one of those new scholars who are less than 30 years old?"
Wang Xijue raised his brows and asked: "So how does this 'veteran' plan to deal with this time? But as I expected, he will use the post station to replace Jinghua's current use in solving problems?"
"He... that's right." Shen Shixing nodded.
Wang Xijue finally laughed this time and said: "Okay, okay, okay. Although he escaped the biggest trap by doing this, but using the inn to replace Jinghua's fleet and cavalry, Jinghua will still lose an income.
Secondly, the matter at the inn involves a wide range of things, and it is not easy to coordinate well. We have many ways to continue to cause trouble for him.
As long as there are too many troubles, even if he has a heart as delicate as Gan's, there is still the possibility of making mistakes while busy, and then... Huh!"
Shen Shixing didn't seem as optimistic as Wang Xijue. He frowned, raised the memorial in his hand and said: "The inn incident naturally involves a lot of things, but judging from his memorial today... he doesn't seem to be
I am not afraid that it will involve a wide range of things, but I am even a little worried that it will not involve a wide range of things."
As Shen Yuanfu spoke, he handed the memorial in his hand to Wang Xijue.
"Oh?" Wang Xijue's expression seemed a little surprised. He frowned slightly and took the memorial and said, "Let me take a look." Shen Shixing nodded and said, "Brother Yuan Yu, please help yourself."
Wang Xijue read this memorial very carefully. Not only did he miss every word, but he would ponder for a moment from time to time, and even go back and read the above text again.
Shen Shixing's patience was extremely good, and he fully lived up to the four words of "the magnanimity of the first assistant." He didn't say a word from the beginning to the end, not to mention urging, not even any unnecessary movements or sounds.
After Wang Xijue finally finished reading the memorial, Shen Shixing still did not take the initiative to ask, but just watched Wang Xijue put the memorial aside thoughtfully. Shen Shixing looked at him with a normal expression, waiting for him to speak first.
Who would have thought that this time Wang Xijue was uncharacteristically uncharacteristic and did not talk about his own countermeasures at the beginning. Instead, he praised him: "Regardless of his position, Gao Rixin can be said to be an unparalleled king in terms of his courage and talent."
As he spoke, he tapped the memorial he placed on the table with his finger and praised again: "As clear as ice, as clean as jade, legal but not authoritative, harmonious but not obscene."
Shen Shixing was silent for a moment and said softly: "We are not the same people."
Wang Xijue's face froze, and he sighed deeply, saying: "Yes, we are not in the same camp."
The pragmatic words he just praised were "as clear as ice, as clean as jade, legal but not intimidating, harmonious but not obscene", which came from Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi's words praising Xun Yu come from his "Guanglu Doctor Xun Hou Yi".
Cao Zhi's original sentence at that time was: "As clear as ice, as clean as jade, lawful but not overbearing, harmonious but not obscene, hundreds of houses of scholars and common people, their tassels are soaked in tassels, clever girls throw in twigs, farmers stop plowing, and take turns giving food."
"It turns without turning, and the horse moans and leans on the balance." - Obviously this was written by Cao Zhi to commemorate and praise Xun Yu after his death, and it is essentially a coffin-closing conclusion.
Wang Xijue, who was a top student at the top of the Third Tripod Class A, certainly knew this, but he chose to use this sentence to "finalize the coffin" of Xun Yu on the young Gao Pragmatic.
Considering that the context in which he said this does not seem like irony, it can only mean that after reading "Revolutionary Station", he was really shocked by Gao Pragmatic's actions, so he had such excessive praise.
In later generations, even Zhuge Liang was questioned. On the contrary, almost everyone praised Xun Yu from Cao Cao's camp, which shows his high talent and upright conduct. Since the Ming Dynasty, except for the first prime minister of the Red Dynasty,
Besides, I'm afraid it will be difficult to find such a flawless piece of jade again.
However, to talk about the reason why Wang Xijue suddenly had such a high opinion of Gao Pragmatism, we must first talk about the root cause of the "widely involved" issue he mentioned before.
The establishment of the Ming Dynasty Station, the usual system, the problems that occurred, etc. have been mentioned in the previous chapters of this book [Note: See Volume 2 of this book, Guan Jinghua, Chapter 045, Yude Shangshu], and will not be repeated here.
A few points that haven’t been mentioned yet.
As early as the Yuan Dynasty, the post station was called "Zhan Chi", and there were many methods such as horses, carts, oxen, donkeys, boats, dogs, sedan chairs, etc. Horses were the most important, but there were also many oxen, carts, and boats.
When there are too many types, it becomes very troublesome to manage. So Zhu Yuanzhang simplified and classified the cumbersome post stations in the Yuan Dynasty, and combined horse stations and boat stations into water horse stations, large animals such as cattle, mules, donkeys, and camels, and transporters.
Separated separately and set up as a delivery station, together with the express delivery shop inherited from the Yuan Dynasty, these three constitute the three major parts of the Daming Post Station.
So, which yamen managed the post stations in the Ming Dynasty? This brings us to a very cruel reality. There was no "senior official" transshipment department in the Ming Dynasty, and the transshipment departments of the Song and Jin Dynasties did not exist in the Ming Dynasty.
The result is that the transportation of materials in the Ming Dynasty was based on prefectures and counties. This is an aspect of the financial system of the Ming Dynasty. I will not explain too much here. I will only say one thing: this reality led to the fact that the three major post systems in the Ming Dynasty were directly subordinate to
The central one, specifically, belongs to the Chariot and Driving Department of the Ministry of War.
The Ming Dynasty abolished the Zhongshu Province and returned power to the Six Ministries. Theoretically, the Ministry of War was under the direct leadership of the emperor. The Chariot and Driving Department of the Ministry of War was in charge of the affairs of the books, ceremonial guards, imperial guards, post offices, and stable husbandry. In other words, it managed the emperor's ceremonial guards, chariots, and post offices.
system.
As for local post stations, the person in charge is called Yi Cheng, and the yamen are linked to the prefecture and county yamen, so the post officials are often counted among the officials of the prefecture and county. The office funds of the post station are allocated from the prefecture and county finances. The so-called "support directly from the government."
If there are prefectures and counties, then the entry and exit are based on them." That's right.
However, the official tax of the Ming Dynasty did not include this item, so the expenses of the post station were levied separately. In later generations, there was a special word called "apportionment." For example, this year, the post station spent a total of one thousand taels of silver.
, this county has a population of 5,000 households, that is, each household is allocated two denarii.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The above is the overall situation of the station, but just talking about the overall situation cannot go into the complexity of the problem. We have to talk about these three systems individually and specifically.
As mentioned before, Shui Ma Post is divided into Shui Post and Horse Post. When setting up Shui Ma Post, one principle is often followed: the distance between the two places is exactly one day's journey. This was mentioned by Gao Pangshi when he first became the censor of Guangxi.
In other words, if you start from this inn early this morning and walk for a day, you will definitely be able to reach the next inn by the afternoon. The distance between the two places is sixty to eighty miles for Ma Yi and one hundred miles for Shui Yi.
to one hundred and twenty miles. In this era, the cavalry troops generally traveled seventy miles per day (not considering special circumstances, such as elite cavalry breaking away from their baggage and running for attack, etc.).
Without changing the main means of transportation, this speed remained the same until the later Anti-Japanese War, and the inn station also followed this principle.
The express delivery shop originated in the Song Dynasty, and was called "Ji Ji Delivery" in the Song Dynasty. The Jin and Yuan Dynasties followed this system, and it was carried forward in the Yuan Dynasty and officially became a system. The Ming Dynasty also inherited the express delivery system of the Yuan Dynasty and made it
Promote it again.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the distance between express delivery shops was not fixed. "One shop was set up every ten, fifteen, or twenty miles." However, in the Ming Dynasty, when the People's Republic of China was founded in the first month of the first year of Hongwu, regulations were issued: "Express delivery shops
"Every ten miles has a shop."
In actual operation, due to terrain factors, of course it is not really so uniform, but most of them still follow this rule. In later generations, many places had some place names, such as Balipu, Shilipu, Shibalipu, and Sansanlipu.
Most of them are historical relics of this kind of express delivery shop.
The delivery station was the first of its kind in the Ming Dynasty. In fact, it was established by separating the cattle, mule, donkey, camel and other stations in Chizhong of the Yuan Dynasty. As mentioned earlier, the Ming Dynasty did not have a provincial-level delivery department, so all solutions
Shipping is done separately by state and county.
This was the case in the early Ming Dynasty. The troops stationed in various garrison stations were used to transport goods. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that this would easily affect the combat effectiveness of the local garrison, so he established a separate system called delivery stations, one for each city.
The post stations usually referred to usually only refer to horse stations, or at most water stations, but in fact this is not the case. The first point to explain is that the station system belongs to the country and the imperial court, and its original intention is to serve the imperial court.
It is not intended to provide convenience to the society, so the inn itself is not allowed for personal use at this time.
The main function of the Shuima Post in the Ming Dynasty was to receive court officials, officials, and soldiers (not fighting soldiers, but communication soldiers). These public officials needed to get a post talisman, which was a token distributed by the court on demand.
For example, let’s say you are a pedestrian in the Xingren Division. This is an official position in the Ming Dynasty. It has a low rank and is generally responsible for delivering decrees. As mentioned before, eunuchs were not responsible for delivering decrees in the Ming Dynasty. Now you are a pedestrian in the Xingren Division.
You set off from Beijing and go to the capital of Yunnan Province, and declare an edict to the Duke of Guizhou who is guarding the place. Tell him that the emperor, in memory of Duke Mu, has been promoted to the next level because of your long service and hard work in the border areas.
Then before you set off, you need to go to the Vehicle and Driving Department of the Ministry of War to get a post talisman. It will write on it who you are, where you are going, what you are doing, and which yamen you belong to. Only when these are clearly written can you take it and leave.
Only the inns along the way will serve you.
Specifically, the format is generally like this, which reads: "Emperor's decree: Officials passing by the post must hold this talisman before they are allowed to handle horses. If there is no such talisman, they can be handed over to the post without authorization. The officials of each post cannot enforce the law and deal with them based on favouritism."
, each will be punished with a serious crime, and it is appropriate to order this. On a certain day of a certain year and a certain month." There is also a horse painted in the middle of this post talisman.
Then from Beijing to Kunming, which is more than 5,000 miles, you will have to walk for about two months. During this period, you will need to change horses, boats, including food and accommodation expenses, all of which are fully contracted by the various stations, and you don't have to worry about them.
What if you don't have this talisman? Then I'm sorry, you can't use the emblem.
Of course, as mentioned before, many systems in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty were destroyed in name only due to overt and covert violations, and Yifu was no exception. It does not mean that this thing is gone, but it often becomes a kind of gift and becomes a must-have when traveling at home and visiting relatives and friends.
Prepare.
For example, Xu Xiake had to travel all over the world to write his travel notes, and he used this a lot during the process. However, he did not have an official position, so theoretically he should not be able to use this thing at all.
As a result, the funding for local post stations increased year by year, and the financial pressure increased year by year. Finally, Chongzhen said that he should simply cancel part of the post stations.
In fact, Chongzhen only abolished 30% of the post stations and did not abandon the entire post station system. But everyone knows what happened later. A postman from Yinchuan Ma Post in Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province lost his job, and started a rebellion within a few days.
Business - His name is Li Zicheng.
However, this problem was greatly improved in the years between the end of Longqing and the beginning of Wanli. On the second day of June in the fifth year of Longqing, when he was the prince's companion, he was a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, Zuo Yude of Zuochunfang, Zhanshi Mansion.
Gao Pingshi wrote a memorial called "In order to comply with the original intention of the ancestors, please clean up the post stations to relieve the post roads."
After a series of struggles and operations, the main measures proposed in this essay were basically implemented during the terms of Gao Gong and Guo Pu.
The most critical of these measures are two points: First, the power of post stations to collect taxes and levy corvee from local governments is abolished, and the local government collects a post tax based on the size of the post station, the quality of the facilities, and the number of personnel.
The public will decide; secondly, to supervise the actual situation of the station, firstly, the court appoints commissioners to conduct unscheduled inspections at least once a year, and secondly, the local government effectively supervises the inspection.
These two highly pragmatic measures at that time most directly led to a change at the central level. From then on, the Ministry of Revenue was also involved in the management system of the post. The post was no longer solely managed by the Ministry of War, but the main responsibility of the Department of Revenue was
It is all kinds of supervision including auditing.
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Chi Yujing Fengchen", and "keyNg" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: I will go for a nucleic acid test tomorrow and return to Changsha after confirming the negative result. Otherwise, the little one will not be able to go to school if he is dissatisfied with the home quarantine time... I hope the queue time will not be too long.