Wanli Youming

Chapter 43
Ruixue is a prosperous year.

During the Spring Festival in the second year of Wanli, there was a heavy snowfall.

A lantern with a white hat wrapped in a red heart swayed in the flying catkins that gradually stopped and entered the mansion of Shi Hai Rui, the left deputy capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate at that time.

And the owner of this lantern is Wang Yongji.

He also brought a big fish, and as soon as he arrived, he walked quickly outside Haimu's house, through the curtain, bowed and smiled: "Mrs. Tai, my nephew Runlian is here to pay respects. I wish you a good old age."

"Thank you for thinking about it."

Inside the curtain, Haimu replied.

Hai Rui, who was sweeping the snow, quickly dropped the broom and straightened up when he heard this, "Why are you here during the festival?"

"Why can't I come?"

As Wang Yongji said, he brought the fish to Hai Rui: "Now that the official salary is paid out in full, you, Hai Rui, must be able to treat us to a meal of wine to help the festival."

"Thank you."

"Of course it's easy, I'll tell Zhuo Jing to cook more dishes."

Hai Rui took the fish from Wang Yongji's hand and said with a smile, "It's expensive again. It's not bad to be able to eat salted fish today. It may cost a lot to buy this fresh fish. I know you Wang Runlian won the first grade in the examination and got half a year more official salary, but there is no need to spend so much."

"Picture auspicious."

"What's more, this is to honor Mrs. Tai, how can you be careless. Mrs. Tai can't eat too salty food, I also know."

Wang Yongji laughed.

Hai Rui also brought the fish to the kitchen and gave it to his wife.

Immediately, Hai Rui walked up to Wang Yongji, and said with a smile, "I won't talk about politeness because of my relationship. Please go to the guest room to make tea yourself. I have to take advantage of the fact that there is nothing to do in the yamen today, and the heavy snow is coming again." Just stopped, so that the snow in the yard will be swept away, so as not to prevent my mother from slipping when going out."

"Since that's the case, I'll sweep with you. Exercise your muscles by the way."

Wang Yongji also picked up a broom from the corner of the wall as he spoke.

Hai Rui didn't stop him either, just swept aside with Wang Yongji, and asked: "You came to my place, don't you come here for the marriage of the Tibetans again."

"you guessed right!"

Wang Yongji smiled and said, "My family's in-laws knew that I was promoted, so they came to Beijing to congratulate me. Many families came, although I couldn't help but welcome them, but you know, Ruo's in-laws are only for money and food. Fortunately, I’m afraid that there are still people asking for entrustment for local officials, especially since the examination has just been implemented this year, so there are naturally many people asking about it.”

"If I really want to ask, I can't refuse, but if I agree, it will be suspected of nuisance to the place, so I can only come to you. The family members and in-laws know that I am here to run around with you, the deputy constitutional official, so naturally They all think that I am running for my own career, and they will understand why I don't accompany you."

Hai Rui smiled and said, "You really are sophisticated!"

Wang Yongji smiled, noncommittal.

At this time, Tan Lun also suddenly appeared at the door.

Hai Rui was quite astonished seeing this, and cast a glance at Wang Yongji.

Wang Yongji said: "I forgot to tell you, this soldier made an appointment with me to come to pay New Year's greetings to Mrs. Tai today, but I will arrive earlier than him."

After hearing this, Hai Rui came over, cupped his hands and said, "I don't know if my soldiers are here, but I'm far away to welcome you."

"You should still call me Zili."

As Tan Lun said, he handed a fresh fish in his hand to Hai Rui: "It took a lot of effort to buy it, and I don't know how those dealers came up with the idea. I can still buy big live fish this day. auspicious."

"Thank you!"

Hai Rui smiled and took it.

Wang Yongji said at this time: "Zi Li can't stand the wind and cold, let's go inside first, I'll help Brother Gangfeng clean up the yard, and then come in to accompany me."

Tan Lun, who was a frequent visitor to Hai Rui's house, nodded and walked in.

Hai Rui sent another fish to the kitchen, and when he came back, he asked Wang Yongji, "You came here to escape from the clansmen, and he, Tan Zili, must have come here too. Presumably, the cabinet ministers and nine ministers are eating wine at Yuanfu's mansion now." Is it the holidays?"

"You didn't see it?"

Wang Yongji asked, "He's having trouble with Yuanfu!"

"Arguing?"

Wang Yongji nodded, stood up and took off his outer robe, and continued to sweep the snow, while saying: "After Feng Bao fell, he copied millions of taels of silver into the internal coffers. Your majesty is kind enough to use this money to make up for the debts owed by the inner court first." The salary also made up for the salary owed by the officials outside the court and the capital, and the rest was only enough to pay the military salary. As for the reconstruction of the nine-border defense system combined by him and Qi Jiguang, especially the Jiliao and Jingji system, it will naturally come to naught.”

Hai Rui nodded.

Wang Yongji continued: "Tan Zili's long-cherished wish is to make the Nine Frontiers, especially Ji Liao, strong both offensively and defensively, so that the Tatars will no longer be like today, whoever wants to go south! In his opinion, although the frontier trade has already open, but the more you want to continue the border trade, you need to have a strong military. To establish such an offensive and defensive system, you must be willing to do so and have sufficient financial resources."

"You know, my Ming Dynasty has three major disadvantages. Although I dare not change it, it is indeed known to sensible people."

Then, Wang Yongji said another sentence.

Hai Rui also replied at this time while sweeping the snow: "I know this: one is that the power of the prime minister is not clear; there is no distinction between the cabinet ministers and the six ministries according to the ancestral law, and the six ministries do not need to obey the cabinet. But until now, The reality is that the six ministries need to be coordinated by the cabinet to promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages, otherwise the six ministries will work independently, and many major policies that promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages cannot be carried out;”

"Secondly, there is no unification of finances and taxes; the Ministry of Households only has the right to allocate money and food from all over the world, but it has no power to collect taxes and appropriate funds, so that a county often has to deliver various taxes to various guards or chief secretaries according to the arrangement of the Ministry of Households. Grain, silk, and even pepper sumac often have as many as a dozen categories of tasks for dissolving grain and silver, but often one category is only a few dozen taels of silver. Poor counties have few taxes and are stretched thin; in addition, the Ministry of Households has no right to collect taxes and allocate funds, which also leads to the fact that the imperial court does not actually deposit much money and food in Taicang and other warehouses, resulting in insufficient savings. There will be a phenomenon of eating more than enough food."

"The third is that those who understand soldiers cannot command soldiers, which leads to the decline of military affairs. Military officials who know soldiers cannot participate in military affairs; civil servants who do not know soldiers can discuss military affairs, and even new official censors can discuss military affairs. In addition, civil servants are also responsible for selecting generals, but because they don’t know military affairs, the generals selected are only for loyalty and bravery, but they don’t know how to plan and manage the army; after all, not everyone can be as good as Hu Ruzhen, Tang Jingchuan, and Tan Zili.”

Hai Rui has served as a local official for many times and is also worried about state affairs, so he naturally knows what the main problems of Daming are, so he spoke out at this time.

After all, Wang Yongji is his close friend, so naturally he does not shy away from talking about problems such as ambiguity in power and unification of finances and taxes that require a major reform of the ancestral system.

"Brother Gangfeng is right, it is these three major problems."

"Everyone knows, but few dare to speak out and few dare to change."

"And it just so happens that Yuanfu has the guts, and you, brother Gangfeng, have done it well, so that the examination method of the New Deal can be regarded as the form of the cabinet's examination of six subjects. Control the six ministries, and the first problem will not be a problem, even when the monarch is young or can only keep his success, he can rely on the virtuous ministers to do a few major things that benefit and eliminate disadvantages, so that the political affairs will not be abolished, and the future generations will be harmed."

Wang Yongji said.

"It is precisely because I know this that I agree that the cabinet has the right to sanction the six departments! Everyone in the world only thinks that I am Hai Rui, but you, Brother Runlian and Yuanfu, know that I am also a man who seeks to seek the country."

Hai Rui said.

"Don't I, Tan Zili, not know you, Haigang Peak?!"

Cough!

　Hai Rui is really not as pedantic as many civil officials in history said. It can be seen that when he was the governor of Suzhou Yingtian, he had taken the lead in initiating various new policies, and he did not blindly stick to the rules. But he was dissatisfied, but he gave a very fair evaluation, so I personally didn't write him as a strict and upright official.

In addition, in history, Tan Lun and Zhang Juzheng asked Prime Minister Qi Jiguang to conduct military training in the north and renovate the frontier equipment.In "History of the Late Ming Dynasty", it is called a pioneering work, because since the Ming Dynasty, since Tumubao, there has been no military general who can be the leader of the three sides. It is reasonable for the military officials to be the commander. Tan Lun and Zhang Juzheng are quite courageous and willing to give It is rare for the military officer to delegate power and let the military officer Qi Jiguang be responsible for rectifying the three sides.The author also writes this out here.As some readers have mentioned before, Zhang Juzheng does value generals after all, unlike many civil servants who naturally discriminate against generals.

　
(End of this chapter)