Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

It must not be a matter of spending money, it must not be a matter of spending money. The Minister of Revenue Hai Zhongqi seemed as steady as an old dog, but he was praying in his heart.

Although the emperor said so, if the money is really spent, it is impossible to get it back just by saying so.

"Wuji, is there anything else?" asked Emperor Chongzhen.

"It's like this. I went to suppress the bandits this year and found that many chieftains in Sichuan had surrendered to the bandits.

Moreover, when our Ming Dynasty was facing internal and external troubles, most of the chieftains did not care, except for the white-flag soldiers of the Shiqu Xuanwei Office who had been fighting for the court in the south and the north.

They are useless when the country is at peace, but surrender to the enemy when the country is in danger. I think those chieftains are just occupying the toilet without doing anything.

There is something wrong with this system, it needs to be changed!"

The chieftain system of the Ming Dynasty has a long history. From top to bottom, it is divided into five levels: the Xuanweishisi, the Xuanfusi, the Anfusi, the Zhaotaosi, and the Changguansi.

The Xuanwei Envoy was a third-rank official in the Ming Dynasty, and the Chief Official was a sixth-rank official. Zhang Shikang's future father-in-law, Ma Xianglin, was of the highest rank among the five ranks.

The chieftain's official position was hereditary. If the father was a envoy, his son and grandson would also be envoys.

The official position was not low, but in fact the power was higher. The chieftain not only controlled certain administrative and financial privileges within his jurisdiction, but most importantly, he also controlled the military and political power in remote areas.

For more than two hundred years before this, the Ming Dynasty often ignored Yunnan and Guizhou when calculating taxes, because these two provinces were almost entirely populated by various local chieftains and taxes could not be collected at all.

From what Zhang Shikang learned from Qin Liangyu and Ma Xianglin, what he could not tolerate the most was that these chieftains held military power, but instead of working hard for the court, they basically used all their power for feuds and internal struggles among themselves.

These chieftains lived in the mountains for a long time, and many of them still implemented the backward tribal system. Some of them made a living by hunting, and bloody fights between chieftains were common in order to compete for hunting grounds.

Not only did the imperial court fail to collect taxes from these places, it sometimes even had to pay out of pocket and mediate conflicts between the various chieftains.

The imperial court became a nanny.

Does this sound like a word?

"What Minister Zhang said does make sense. Tusi have not been of much help to our Ming Dynasty, but have caused many disadvantages.

However, this system has been implemented for more than 300 years, starting from the Yuan Dynasty. If it is suddenly changed, it may cause unrest in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan again.

I just don’t know how Zhang Gebu plans to change it?” said Li Banghua, the chief minister of the cabinet.

The way he expressed it was quite elegant. First of all, he affirmed Zhang Shikang's statement. After all, almost every court official knew the drawbacks of the chieftains.

Why no one says anything? Mainly because they are afraid of taking responsibility. After all, you said you wanted to move against the chieftain, but if a riot really breaks out and you can't deal with it, then who will take the blame if not you?

This kind of unrest will have a huge and dark fate. At the very least, the person will be dismissed from office and have to go home to eat dirt. At worst, the person will lose his head. If you are unlucky, you may end up playing the game of Match 3 or Match 9.

But it was different when Zhang Shikang said this, considering his current power and status in the emperor's mind.

No matter from which angle you look at it, there won't be any problems with this guy.

But how to change it does have a plan. Of course, it should be changed without causing unrest as much as possible.

"Four words are enough." Zhang Shikang said with certainty.

After that, he fell silent again.

"Wuji, don't make trouble. This is a military and national issue. If you have any good ideas, please speak up quickly." Emperor Chongzhen said with a serious face.

He now knew Zhang Shikang very well and knew that this guy was waiting for a certain elder, or even himself, so he asked in a very appropriate manner:

"Oh? Which four words?"

So Zhang Shikang tried to show off again but failed, so he had to continue:

"Reform the land and return it to the people."

Afterwards, the Qianqing Palace became quiet again, and Li Banghua and others were pondering the meaning of these four words.

In addition, Hai Zhongqi looked at Zhang Shikang meaningfully. This man was so young, and although he was cynical and spoke very rudely.

But it must be said that what he did and the various suggestions he made to the court were all of great benefit to the long-term stability of the court.

The reform of the Ming Dynasty has been going on for almost two years, and has been continuously deepening.

After Zhang Shikang, the vanguard, all the cabinet ministers seemed to have become tramplers of the ancestral system. Any ancestral system that organized the development of the Ming Dynasty was no longer the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty.

Any ancestral system that can help the Ming Dynasty, such as skinning and stuffing straw for those who embezzled 100 taels of silver, is the best ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty.

"Minister Zhang, doing this may cause dissatisfaction among the local officials." Minister of Personnel Ni Yuanlu frowned.

As the Minister of Personnel, Ni Yuanlu did not have many opportunities to participate in court discussions. After all, the Minister of Personnel had high power and did not serve in the cabinet.

Therefore, the emperor showed favor and allowed him to participate in court discussions. If it did not involve matters related to the Ministry of Personnel, he would basically not express his opinions in order to avoid suspicion.

But the term "reforming the native officials into officials" meant, as its meaning suggests, abolishing the hereditary privileges of the chieftains and replacing them with officials sent by the imperial court.

This is mainly the function of the Ministry of Personnel.

Moreover, this kind of behavior will lead to the destruction of the chieftains in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.

It would be strange if they could hand over power honestly.

What's more, Ni Yuanlu had reason to believe that if he really sent a civil servant, he might be killed by the chieftains in the mountains along the way.

The mountains are high, the roads are long, and the potholes are deep. There are no cameras in the wilderness. If there is no evidence, what can you do?

However, Zhang Shikang disagreed.

"Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. Changing the land system to the local people will not only cut off their financial resources, but also their hereditary privileges. Of course, they will fight to the death."

Zhang Shikang first acknowledged Ni Yuanlu's concerns, but then said:

"Since ancient times, land reform has always been accompanied by blood. The reason why our land reform was successfully implemented is because I killed all those who stood in my way.

The same goes for the policy of changing the native system to Han Chinese. Your Majesty, since I dare to make this suggestion, I am not afraid that they will rebel.

If they dare to rebel, I will lead my troops to destroy them.

But if the system is not reformed because of possible unrest, this drawback will continue to exist.

If you are afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind, the final result will only be that you are like wolves and tigers. "

Zhang Shikang said without hesitation.

He was not afraid of the Jianlu and did not take the bandits seriously. He was surrounded by Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. Sichuan had Qin Liangyu's white-flag soldiers and Yunnan was guarded by Mu Tianbo, the Duke of Qian.

What he needed to take precautions against were Huguang and Guangxi. He only needed to send troops to Huguang and Guangxi to encircle the main chieftain areas on three sides.

In terms of military, Zhang Shikang's idea has always been to only stimulate possible unrest in specific areas.

For example, if there was a rebellion involving bandits, even if he could not handle it well temporarily, he would try his best to confine the bandits within Sichuan.

The same goes for the chieftains. In mountainous places like Yunnan and Guizhou, it's hard to collect much tax. Go ahead and make trouble. You have the life to make trouble, but I'm afraid you won't survive.

Seeing Zhang Shikang so tough, several other cabinet ministers expressed their agreement.

Anyway, they don't have to contribute anything, and it has nothing to do with them if there are any problems. All the armies in the world are in this guy's hands, and he can fight anyway.

Then why oppose it?

"Oh, Elder Hai, please prepare the food and fodder for the time being."

Zhang Shikang chuckled and looked at the Minister of Revenue Hai Zhongqi and said.

……