Wanli Youming

Chapter 45
In early spring and February, the snow melts and the ice melts.

Zhu Yijun was sitting in the West Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace. After seeing Zhang Juzheng, Lu Tiaoyang, Zhao Zhenji, Zhang Siwei, Wang Guoguang, Tan Lun, and Hai Rui coming in, he pointed to the seven official hat chairs in front of him. : "The ministers and workers who are called here are not the imperial gates to listen to the government. They should not be limited by etiquette. What's more, the first emperor and his mother have repeatedly said that they should respect the old ministers for government, so let's all sit down and discuss today's government."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Zhang Juzheng knew that the emperor was worried that Tan Lun would not be able to stand for a long time, but it was not easy for him to sit alone as a minister, so he simply gave everyone a seat in the name of respecting the veteran.

And if anyone really became the emperor at this time because he gave face to the veterans, he was afraid that he would suffer a big loss in the future.

After Zhang Juzheng waited for Xie En to sit down, Zhu Yijun said: "The purpose of summoning you is to avoid another shortfall this year. You should speak freely and let me learn the way of governance from it."

"I will obey your orders!"

So, next, Hai Rui got up first and said: "Your Majesty Qizuo, I believe that the deficit lies in the lack of financial resources at the central court, and the lack of financial resources is due to the lack of local land taxes."

"It has been two hundred years since the founding of the Emperor Ming Dynasty, and the land in the world has changed hands countless times. However, the yellow books and fish scale books used have not been re-cleared until now, so that the landless people and even the empty households are regarded as the ones who have a lot of good land. Large households came to collect land taxes, while large households with a lot of good land were still collected as landless people, which led to severe taxation or an increase in the number of deserted and fleeing people, so that the court tax revenue was greatly reduced."

Having said that, Hai Rui said: "My old minister believes that after passing the exam, we should immediately implement the policy of clearing the land. When I was working in the local area, I had already implemented it. It can indeed effectively prevent the increase of refugees, and even prevent the increase of taxes. It can even increase taxes, because compared with the beginning of the country, this dynasty has actually increased a lot of new fields, but many new fields have not been seen in the book."

"Qingzhang Tianmu is indeed a good way to solve the deficit and increase the state's money. But I think this is not enough."

University scholar Zhao Zhenji got up at this time and replied, and then said: "I have lived in the village for many years, and I have specially visited the villagers. I learned that in this dynasty until now, within a county, the fields of officials and gentry have already exceeded half, while the fields of common people have long been It’s less than half, and the clan and noble fields have expanded by an unknown amount.”

"Therefore, the regulations on preferential exemptions for officials and gentry drafted during the Shimiao Dynasty should be completely abolished, so as to prevent the land from being taken away by officials and gentry in the future, but the court will also be taxed more and more, and even because there are not enough people to serve, leading to further increases in spending.”

After Zhao Zhenji finished speaking, he bowed his hands to Zhu Yijun and said: "My old minister believes that since His Majesty wants to start a new policy to solve the deficit, we should completely abolish the regulations on the preferential exemption of officials and gentry, so that all the officials and gentry in the world will pay for food, and change the policy of using land to support the clan! "

At first Zhu Yijun nodded when he saw Hai Rui mention Qingzhang Tianmu, but after hearing Zhao Zhenji's speech, he immediately stood there in shock.

He didn't expect that Zhao Zhenji would be more radical than Hai Rui, and directly suggested that officials and gentry should pay their bills together.

Because of this, Zhu Yijun even noticed that when Hai Rui said this, Lu Tiaoyang, Wang Guoguang, and Tan Lun were all relatively calm, and only Zhang Siwei moved his buttocks, as if his chair was different from others, with needles on it.

After Zhao Zhenji said it, it wasn't just Zhang Siwei who suddenly changed color, Lu Diaoyang, Wang Guoguang, and Tan Lun also stared wide-eyed.

Only Zhang Juzheng sat firmly on the chair.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng: "Where is Yuanfu Mr. Zhang, is it possible to implement the policy of clearing Zhang's land or abolishing the preferential exemption regulations for officials and gentry?"

The other six ministers also looked at Zhang Juzheng.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng stood up, bowed his hands to Zhu Yijun and said: "Your Majesty Qizuo, in my opinion, not only the policy of abolishing the preferential exemption regulations for officials and gentry cannot be implemented, but even the policy of Qingzhang Tianmu is not suitable for implementation this year."

"Why not?"

Zhao Zhenji got up and asked Zhang Juzheng a question, then bowed his hands to Zhu Yijun, and then asked Zhang Juzheng: "Now that the new dynasty has just been established, Your Majesty has the heart to govern. It is time to get rid of the ills and avoid the crisis of subjugation. Do we have to wait for this?" Do you only want to change when you have lost your temper and can’t change even if you want to?”

"Your Majesty, I believe that the policy of abolishing the preferential exemption regulations for officials and gentry and changing the policy of using land to support the clan as mentioned by Elder Zhao Ge are stubborn problems that should be solved, but it is indeed not suitable to solve them now."

"Because the imperial court does not have enough troops and officials to ensure that this policy can be implemented, after all, the current imperial court is presided over by officials and gentry below the county level, including the collection of taxes and the organization of forced labor, so even a piece of imperial edict If you cancel the preferential treatment, you will not receive their money and food."

"What's more, there are subordinate officials who actually handle affairs here, who are the minions of local officials and gentry."

After Hai Rui said that, he said: "So Mr. Zhao Ge's proposal is too hasty. Even if it is forcibly abolished, it will still exist in name only in the future; but Qingzhang Tianmu is indeed a feasible policy. This is what the court should do. Officials and gentry It's not easy to refute, and it's not easy to claim the benefits of the imperial court, and the imperial court is not trying to seize their preferential treatment."

After saying that, Hai Rui looked at Zhang Juzheng: "But I don't understand why Yuanfu also thinks it's wrong?"

Zhang Juzheng got up at this time and said: "Your Majesty Qizuo, what I mean is that it is not appropriate to implement the policy of clearing up the land and acres this year, and it is not appropriate to implement the policy of collecting grain from officials and gentry before the imperial court is strong."

Hai Rui looked at Zhang Juzheng and said: "Nowadays, His Majesty is determined to innovate, and Yuan Fu is dedicated to assisting the Prime Minister. It can be said that it depends on the emperor's order to implement the law in the world. Why not?"

Zhao Zhenji also echoed and said: "That's right! It is difficult to cancel the regulations on the preferential exemption of officials and gentry and change the policy of using land to support the clan, but as long as His Majesty has the determination, it can still be implemented. At least Qingzhang Tianmu can be carried out this year, and then You can consider canceling the preferential exemption and restricting the land of the suzerain vassal."

"His Majesty!"

At this time, Zhang Juzheng bowed his hands to Zhu Yijun, and said: "In the early days when Shenzong came to the throne, he wanted to enrich the country and strengthen the army, so he summoned the old chancellor Fu Wenzhong (Fu Bi) to ask about the way of reform. Fu Wenzhong saw that Shenzong was too aggressive. There is not enough calmness, but Jianyan Song Shenzong has been unspeakable for 20 years."

"Fuwen Zhonggong (Fu Bi)'s words are inherently suspected of destroying Shenzong's will, but it is also to prevent the emperor from doing radical things, which will not be beneficial to the community. Now that your majesty has just ascended the throne, as Mr. Zhao Ge said, it is indeed taking advantage of the new dynasty. The weather, and the good opportunity to get rid of the ills in one go, to avoid the exhaustion of the heart, there will be no such opportunity."

"but!"

When Zhang Juzheng said this, he looked at Zhao Zhenji: "In my humble opinion, on the one hand, the reform and innovation needs to be carried out by the emperor, but on the other hand, it must wait for the officials and people in the world to have this wish."

As he said that, Zhang Juzheng looked at Zhao Zhenji: "Elder Ge is also a member of Wang Xuemen, don't you know that before relying on the king to practice the way, you also need to feel the way of the people?"

"If you don't take advantage of the opportunity of implementing the examination method, let the bureaucrats in the world have to devote themselves to handling government affairs in order to be able to get the first grade in the new examination, and find that if you don't know the Zhang Tianmu, you can't really complete the examination. Asked, and then realized that not clearing Zhang Tianmu will affect his official career, and when he began to ask the imperial court to grant them a decree to clear Zhang Tianmu, and then issued an edict to implement Qingzhang Tianmu throughout the country, how can we be sure that bureaucrats in various places will be serious about clearing Zhang Tianmu? "

As Zhang Juzheng said, he looked at Zhu Yijun again: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, the reform is not just an edict issued by the emperor, which can only be implemented by strict orders, but must first be formed at the lower level, and then your majesty will issue an edict according to the trend, so that it will come to fruition. .”

"Otherwise, good governance can turn into bad governance."

"The Qingzhang people will deliberately falsely report the number of acres of Qingzhang's fields because they have no such intention or even oppose this policy, and even say that the old fields are new fields."

"The old minister believes that the government should not only rely on the king to practice the way, but also first realize the people's way."

"When the bureaucrats all over the world begin to earnestly follow the requirements of the examination to become officials this year, and realize that they must be clear, they can implement the clearing of the land and mu in the next year or the year after. , and thousands of military officials are required to protect it, if they don't intend to do this, bad things will inevitably happen."

(End of this chapter)