The Fourth Town of Xuanda in Jiliao was the first two batches of frontier troops to be equipped with some "Jinghua" firearms, even earlier than the Beijing army. Because of the tribute paid by the government, there has been no war worth mentioning in the Xuanda direction for a long time.
, so the current achievements of "Jinghua" firearms all come from Jiliao Town.
In fact, the weapons they replaced are not too advanced. The muskets are still front-loaded smooth-bore matchlocks, which are similar to Saigon guns and are named "Jinghua Longqing Type 2" - the reason why they are "Longqing" Type 2 is because
This gun was finalized in the sixth year of Longqing, and was submitted to the Ministry of War and the Beijing camp for verification. Later, it was provided in small batches to Qi Jiguang's headquarters and received good reviews. Later, after it was privately owned by the military industry, orders were obtained. The Longqing type actually also exists, but
It was an experimental model, an internal trial production, and not mass-produced.
However, the Longqing II musket still has advantages over the Saigon musket: one is that the Longqing II has a longer gun body; the other is that the quality is more stable.
Needless to say about quality, if the quality of the firearms produced by Jinghua cannot even compare with the products of the Ordnance Bureau and the Military War Bureau, then Gao Qingjing might as well quit the industry.
Lengthening the gun body is worth mentioning. The length of the gun body affects many things, such as the muzzle velocity of the projectile, the power within the effective range, shooting distance, shooting accuracy, etc. But generally speaking, the most important influence is that the longer the gun body, the longer the gun body.
The shooting will be more accurate, but the range will be reduced at the same time.
However, the Longqing II type has achieved the same range as the official and battalion competition guns on the premise of improving accuracy. The reason is actually not complicated: Gao Pragmatic provides supporting ammunition, and the ammunition he provides has not only been developed
Paper shell fixed-loading ammunition, and the gunpowder is better - although it is still black powder, it has been slightly improved and made into granular gunpowder, and the composition ratio is more precise. [Wufeng Note: The explanation of granulation is a bit complicated, it may be
I’ll omit the word count of “being watered”.]
All in all, the technical level of the Longqing II musket can only be regarded as slightly higher than that of the Ming Dynasty's best infantry muskets (including bird guns), but its reliability has been greatly improved. After being equipped and strongly recommended by Jizhen, Liaodong also quickly began to carry out
Change clothes.
Of course, changing clothes requires money, so part of the money Gao Gong earned from customs duties was invested in armaments. But this is a virtuous cycle, so it must be counted as political achievements.
Another major achievement is that administrative efficiency has been greatly improved. This achievement mainly comes from the examination method that adds a highly pragmatic "quantitative achievement" idea.
Zhang Juzheng's examination method has been criticized a lot by later generations. The problem is not that the effect is not good, but that he does not care about the means. For example, when examining the performance of a county magistrate, if one of the items is how much tax was collected, then Zhang Juzheng
He only asked whether the specific amount of the tax was reached, not what methods the county magistrate used.
The same issue was discussed by Gao Gong and Gao Jingshi as early as the fourth year of Longqing [Wufeng Note: See Chapter 009 of Volume 1]. At that time, Gao Jingshi's initial point of view was very similar to Zhang Juzheng's, but
Gao Gong immediately objected, believing that local gentry and even local officials would definitely pass on the tax payment pressure to ordinary people, which would easily lead to more exploitation of the ordinary people, causing unrest and even civil unrest. Then Gao Pragmatic proposed another item
The requirement is to include local stability in the performance evaluation of county officials.
The examination method implemented by Gao Gong in recent years adheres to this idea, but adds more details. In short, whether a county magistrate is doing well or not, there are a lot of specific data for reference, such as official documents
Recovery speed, tax collection rate, tax increase rate, fame acquisition rate (above scholar level), case processing speed, case completion rate, crime rate and danger, civil disorder rate and danger...etc.
The release of these standards has improved the administrative efficiency of almost all the Ming Dynasty. Of course, due to regional differences, differences in development levels and other reasons, basically the more economically developed regions have better results, and the more economically backward regions have worse results.
Not long ago, Gao Gong was discussing with Gao Pragmatic how to improve backward areas, but he didn't expect that they would be separated forever.
In addition, Gao Gong not only has a good vision in hiring people, but also has a prime ministerial bearing.
To give two examples of one civil servant and one military officer: As for civil servants, the former governor of Shandong, Liang Menglong, was a disciple of Zhang Juzheng. After Zhang Juzheng’s fall, Liang Menglong himself felt that not to mention that the governor of Shandong would not be able to hold his seat securely, and he was afraid that he would suffer a lot of impeachment from Gao’s disciples.
, so he even wrote the resignation letter. But he waited for a transfer order and returned to Beijing as the Right Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and cooperated with the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Guangqing, to control the entire country's land.
After the Qing Dynasty was completed, Liang Menglong changed the Ministry of War and went to Liaodong to reward the soldiers. After returning in the fifth year of Wanli, he was promoted from the left minister of the Ministry of War to the censor of Youdu. He was the governor of Ji Liao. Li Chengliang's "Victory of Splitting the Mountain" was fought with his full support.
from.
In terms of generals, after Zhang Juzheng's fall, Qi Jiguang was very anxious and sent his nephew Qi Jin back to Beijing to contact Gao Jingshi. Gao Jingshi just told Qi Jin, "Yuan Fu is well aware of the Qiancheng in Ling Shu's country. Ji Zhen is a big deal, how can it be?"
Can easily."
As a result, Qi Jiguang was not affected at all. Instead, he was heavily rewarded by the court for defeating Duoyan Donghu twice in the first year of Wanli and the second year of Wanli. Qi Jiguang was first promoted to the prince's Taibao, and then to Shaobao, and finally became the most familiar to Gao pragmatism.
"Qi Shaobao".
As for other achievements, it is difficult to describe them all at the moment, but they can be mentioned in the future.
In short, during these six years, Gao Gong injected enough vitality into the continued advancement of Ming Dynasty's "Jialong Ten Thousand Reforms", and his achievements are immeasurable. From this aspect, "Wen Zheng" is what he should be
Some rewards.
But if it were just that, given the special significance and extreme scarcity of "Wen Zheng", Zhu Yijun still might not give it, and maybe he could get away with it by giving it to "Wen Zhong".
But there is another aspect of Gao Gong that makes Zhu Yijun heartily satisfied, that is, Gao Gong has very rich educational experience. He did not have strict requirements on everything like Zhang Juzheng taught Wanli in history, and did not allow the emperor to appear even if he made the slightest mistake.
He often comforted Wanli when he made mistakes, and helped the emperor speak up when he was occasionally criticized by some officials who "disregarded their reputation and betrayed their integrity."
Just like how he treated Long Qing back then.
Gao Gong's educational ideas are very different from Zhang Juzheng's. If we must compare, it can be said that Gao Gong insists on being strict with himself and being lenient with others; while Zhang Juzheng is lenient with self-discipline and strict with others.
When Zhang Juzheng was deposed, the reason why the emperor issued an order to inspect his academic residence in the capital was because he wanted to give it to Gao Gong. However, Gao Gong later refused. He even explained to the emperor in person: "My nephew
I am pragmatic, my family is rich, and my background is clean. If I want to change my house, when can I not change it? Therefore, those who do not change it do not forget the original intention of being honest and self-disciplined."
He served as the chief minister of the Wanli Dynasty for six years, and his land did not increase by an acre, nor did he have any more slaves. He did not even accept some of the elegant things that Gao Jingshi gave him for viewing, but only some tea leaves, soap and the like.
It is a thing of ordinary use. [Wufeng’s note: Historically, Gao Gong and his integrity were praised by Hai Ruidu. 】
Zhang Juzheng’s performance in history was much worse. Some later scholars concluded that he “shouted against corruption while simultaneously accepting bribes; while shouting for frugality, he was extravagant; while shouting for integrity, he
On the other hand, I forget my love for the beauty’s skirt and hairpin.”
The two styles determined the different perceptions of the little emperor Wanli towards them.
Gao Gong continued the way he taught Long Qing: as a teacher, he teaches what should be taught; but also like a father, he protects what should be protected.
