prosperous age

After learning about the sweet potato vine from Zhang Ji and reading the letters left by Yu Dayou, Wei Guangde finally understood that he had almost gathered all the weapons to deal with the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty.

Yes, Wei Guangde was not very excited when he knew there were sweet potato vines. He had already passed the initial stage.

In fact, over the years, as the second assistant, he was able to have a relatively good understanding of agricultural production in various parts of the Ming Dynasty.

Although droughts in the south and floods in the north still exist, it is much better than the alternating disasters between the north and the south during the Jiajing period.

At the very least, although people in various places have suffered from disasters, the output from the fields can still barely feed them, and they can still get by one year after the disaster, so they can still live on.

It was not until the Chongzhen period that successive disasters in the north pushed the Ming Dynasty to the brink of collapse.

Coupled with improper handling of state affairs, the death knell of the Ming Dynasty was eventually sounded.

Although the officials of the Ming Dynasty are not very good now, and corruption is rampant from top to bottom, the system is still good.

Yes, you read that right, the political system of the Ming Dynasty was still good.

The small government that has lasted for a thousand years, in addition to the huge military expenditures in the north, actually has limited financial support from the court, which has not yet reached the point of pushing people to death.

Especially among the people nowadays, Zhu Yuanzhang established a system that imperial power would not go down to the countryside. Because there are many clans, the countryside is mostly maintained by clan elders, and they are all connected by blood, so they will never compare people to death.

Although later film and television works often put the blame for the suffering of the people on the local officials "Li" and the village heads and headmen, these people actually spread the taxes more on people of other surnames and were still good to their own family members.

Even though there are some people who forget their roots, they are not that many.

As for those people with other surnames, they are actually mentally prepared when they live in other people’s villages.

This is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty lasted for more than two hundred years. The countryside was relatively peaceful and there were few troubles.

As for why Zhu Yuanzhang made the rule that "imperial power does not extend to the countryside", it was because he had suffered from the exploitation of corrupt officials, so he came up with this system to allow village elders to maintain order in the countryside and prevent officials from reaching out to the countryside.

In fact, the birth of this system shows that Zhu Yuanzhang did not trust the ethics of Ming officials from the very beginning.

However, the deeper reasons are also related to the social structure of ancient China.

The cost of imperial power intervening in the countryside is too great, and it may even lead to the overthrow of the dynasty. This is one of the reasons why Zhu Yuanzhang chose this system.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty did not give up the power of towns and villages. Although local officials were not allowed to interfere in local affairs other than criminal cases, management rights such as collecting taxes were still carried out through clerks.

Therefore, there is also a saying in later generations about ancient times, that is, the rural governance of the feudal dynasty was basically controlled by clerks.

The role of the gentry was minimal, and even the county magistrate was deceived by the clerks' sophisticated administrative skills.

This is also an important reason why county officials have to constantly clean up their clerk teams, as there is a complex power game behind it.

During the Ming Dynasty, almost all officials, especially local officials and censors, would prosecute a few clerks in order to establish their image of being upright and incorruptible in the early days of their tenure.

Neither clans nor gentry would be willing to donate the materials in their control to the country. This was the main contradiction between imperial power and gentry power in the countryside. The forced delegation of many taxes and labor services illustrated this point.

But the gentry were not completely powerless to resist. In the ancient times when the household registration system was not complete, they avoided the infiltration of imperial power by hiding their household registration and recruiting refugees.

When the dynasty was at its peak, it was still possible to use the team of clerks to restrain the gentry in order to maintain basic control over the countryside.

After a long period of peace, clerks and gentry would form an ambiguous relationship and work together to exploit policy loopholes to enrich themselves.

Therefore, the so-called local politics is either controlled by clerks or by gentry, who have the power of life and death and can do whatever they want. The people’s ability to survive, govern themselves, and be autonomous is almost nonexistent.

The gentry clearly realized that if they encountered an honest county magistrate, they could still impose restrictions on him, but most county magistrates were subject to questioning and demands from important state officials above and heavy levies from the prefectures and counties below, so they had no choice but to allow clerks to seize the villagers' property. Otherwise, where would the tens of thousands of taels of silver the local magistrate earned come from?

In addition, during times of military unrest, the gentry used their wealth to recruit the people to build armed strongholds, which not only had a large amount of farmland resources but also had a certain number of armed forces.

The imperial power had no way of penetrating such an airtight iron barrel. Whether it was the conscription of soldiers or the payment of taxes, it could only be carried out according to the subjective wishes of the gentry.

The higher the mountain, the less afraid the emperor is. The autonomy of the gentry lies not only in the control of the population and land, but also in winning over the clerks.

In contrast, the original intention of the feudal dynasty to establish clerks was to eliminate the local control of gentry and try to incorporate "rural autonomy" into the country's governance system.

The current Ming Dynasty is actually a state where local officials and gentry complement each other. It is difficult for local officials to directly intervene in the countryside, and the gentry must try their best to meet the officials' requirements under the righteousness of the court.

This is also the reason why when local officials of the imperial court take office, the gentry would visit them with gifts. After all, imperial power holds moral authority, and the gentry only dare to be a little unrestrained in the countryside, but dare not go too far.

However, the situation changed slightly after Zhang Juzheng introduced the performance evaluation system.

The performance evaluation system really put the lower-level officials in a desperate situation. For the sake of their own careers, they had to pay the taxes imposed by the court.

In fact, the tax burden is not heavy, but there are too many miscellaneous taxes at the local level, and the total amount is not light.

It can be said that from ancient times to the present, the comprehensive tax burden borne by the Chinese has always been very heavy, and the light taxation in the Ming Dynasty only refers to national taxes.

Wei Guangde also learned more than once from officials who came to Beijing to report on their work that local officials used some drastic measures in order to complete their tax collection tasks.

Those of the same age and fellow townsmen who were serving as officials outside the capital would often complain in letters, most of whom were against the performance evaluation system.

This was also the reason why Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were able to reach a certain understanding in the cabinet. Zhang Juzheng pushed for the performance evaluation system and could not bypass Wei Guangde and needed his support.

Wei Guangde's mentality at this time has also changed somewhat.

Influenced by the halo of later generations, Wei Guangde initially supported Zhang Juzheng's system of imperial examinations, but now that he has learned the truth, he is somewhat shaken.

Of course, these are another matter. At this time, Wei Guangde had already made up his mind. He planned to return to the cabinet and arrange the matter about the sweet potato vines. He asked the Agricultural Persuasion Bureau to send someone to Fujian to find Li Jin to see if the sweet potato vines could be grown. This was the key.

We will continue to cultivate them together and try to obtain more sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines as soon as possible, and try to plant them in provinces across the country.

In a word, the sweet potato vines were something Wei Guangde prepared to prolong the life of the Ming Dynasty decades later, and it seems that they are not urgently needed now.

As for trying it earlier and even promoting it, it is also to cope with the current disasters in various places.

Imperial rice is not disaster-resistant, but it has a huge planting range. It can be planted in both arable land and mountainous areas, and can solve the food problem in mountainous areas.

After leaving home, Wei Guangde got on the sedan chair and went directly to the cabinet to take up his post.

However, when getting into the sedan chair, Zhang Ji, who followed him, whispered in Wei Guangde's ear, "Master, yesterday afternoon, I met the housekeeper of Minister Zhu's residence shopping outside Zhengyang Gate, and we chatted for a while."

Wei Guangde was just about to bend down and get into the sedan chair, but when he heard this, he stopped and looked back at Zhang Ji.

Obviously, this kid forgot to mention this today and only remembered it now, or he didn't know whether he should say it before.

Zhang Ji naturally understood Wei Guangde's actions, and whispered in Wei Guangde's ear: "He said that Minister Zhu has not been sleeping well recently and has lost weight. He asked a doctor to see him, and he said it was a normal reaction of old age and he can only take care of himself." "Huh?"

Wei Guangde frowned when he heard this.

But if you think about Zhu Heng's age, he is already in his sixties and does look a little old.

It's just that Zhu Heng hasn't told him about this yet, and he doesn't want to ask rashly. He can only keep it in his heart and pretend that he doesn't know.

With a slight nod, Wei Guangde bent down and entered the sedan chair, while Zhang Ji also tactfully stepped aside.

At a shout from the sedan chair leader, several bearers lifted the sedan chair and walked towards the Forbidden City.

Zhu Heng can be said to be the main helper of Wei Guangde after he entered the officialdom, especially after he made a name for himself in the officialdom, Zhu Heng helped him a lot.

When he first entered the cabinet, he had little say, but it was with the help of his fellow villager that he was able to gain a say.

Of course, Yu Ji’s old people are also a very important force.

However, thinking of Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizeng who had already retired, Wei Guangde, who was sitting in the sedan chair, just shook his head slightly.

Officials will leave eventually, it’s just a matter of sooner or later.

Fortunately, in the past two years, they have built the Ministry of Works into an iron bucket. Even if Zhu Heng retires, Wei Guangde is confident that his fellow villager can take over his official position and secure the position of Minister of Works.

The current Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, Jiang Zhi, is still in Nanzhili and Shandong, overseeing the excavation of the Jialing Canal.

At first, it was thought that Zhu Heng could survive until the opening of the Jiayun Canal, that is, until he was seventy years old. By then, based on this achievement, Jiang Zhi would be directly promoted to succeed him as the Minister of Works.

After listening to Zhang Ji's words, Wei Guangde had to consider this matter earlier.

Although he believed that even if he wanted to retire, Zhu Heng would definitely make arrangements.

But Wei Guangde would not allow any loopholes in this matter. The only thing that might be exploited was that Jiang Zhi was not in the capital at the moment and was on a business trip, a very important one.

At this moment, Wei Guangde had already considered transferring Jiang Zhi back to the capital. He would replace him with someone else to supervise the construction of the Jiayun Canal on site, and he would just return to Beijing to control it remotely.

"Let's go ask Zhu Heng today and see what he thinks."

After all, this matter was the Ministry of Works' business, and Wei Guangde certainly could not make the decision directly for Zhu Heng in the cabinet.

So I plan to issue a note today and invite Zhu Heng to the cabinet to discuss the matter.

When the sedan chair arrived at Chang'an Street, Wei Guangde saw the scene outside through the curtain. The officials' sedan chairs and carriages were heading towards the government offices in twos and threes.

There is no court meeting today, so everyone got up late.

In fact, Wei Guangde is more familiar with such days, after all, it has been like this since the Jiajing period.

However, Wei Guangde's mind returned to the affairs of state at this time, and he couldn't help but think of a suggestion made by Zhang Juzheng before the court was adjourned yesterday, which was to clean up the post stations.

Unlike the absurd decree to abolish the post stations during the Chongzhen period, Zhang Juzheng at this time simply felt that the post stations scattered across the Ming Dynasty had too many responsibilities and wasted a lot of the court's financial resources.

The imperial court set up post stations in various places with the original intention of strengthening the central government's rule over surrounding areas and responsible for transmitting military intelligence and official documents.

Initially, only officials who were on official tours could use the post stations, and they had to submit a "kanhe" when using the post stations.

"Kanhe" is actually a kind of identity certificate, similar to the letter of introduction in the 1950s and 1960s. It records where you need to go and what you need to do. After completing the task, you must hand in the "Kanhe" and you are not allowed to keep it privately or give it to others.

However, as time passed, the system continued to deteriorate, and eventually it became a decoration, and more and more people had "Kanhe".

In order to reduce the pressure on the post stations and cut unnecessary expenses, Zhang Juzheng ordered the cleanup of the post stations.

Not only did they redefine the system for entering the post stations, but they also planned to close some unnecessary post stations and reduce financial expenditures.

After all, all expenses of the post station were paid for by the imperial court, so it was really inappropriate for those who obtained permits through personal connections to run the post stations.

The root of this matter was that Zhang Juzheng's brother Zhang Jujing was sick and needed to go home for treatment, so the governor of Baoding presented him with a "kanhe" (a certificate of medical treatment), with the original intention of naturally wanting to curry favor with the Prime Minister.

As a result, after Zhang Juzheng learned about it, he immediately asked his brother to return the "kanhe" and paid for his own return home for treatment so as not to take advantage of the court.

Judging from the internal and external situations at this time, Zhang Juzheng seemed to be gaining power, but he had offended many people because of the performance evaluation system, so naturally he did not want to leave any handle for others to take advantage of.

In fact, using the Kanhe to use the post stations set up by the imperial court for free was one of the privileges of the imperial dignitaries.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng wanted to reorganize the post stations and strictly check the use of inspection permits, which would undoubtedly offend a large number of people.

"No wonder he was held responsible after his death. He was so prosperous when he was alive, but his family members suffered."

Wei Guangde sighed inwardly. Zhang Juzheng's series of reforms were indeed beneficial to the court, but they offended too many people. Wei Guangde asked himself if he had the courage to do so.

As for opposition, Wei Guangde did remind him, but Zhang Juzheng had actually made his position clear yesterday and could not be persuaded at all.

Wei Guangde really couldn't find any reason to oppose something that was beneficial to the court. If they discussed it again today, it would almost be completely settled.

Wei Guangde did not care about the privileges of the Kanhe, but others might not, especially those low-ranking officials.

Many people gave the Kanhe issued by the government office to others privately, so that they could use the post station almost for free and enjoy convenient services.

This is also the reason why when Zhang Juzheng was impeached after his death, everyone immediately turned against him.

However, when Wei Guangde walked into the cabinet, he sensitively felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere today. It seemed too serious. Everyone was working silently, as if they were afraid of being caught cheating.

Feeling curious, Wei Guangde went straight back to his duty room.

When Lu Bu came in to serve tea, Wei Guangde asked, "What's going on today? Why are the people outside acting so strange?"

"Master, the cabinet received an impeachment today."

"Hmm? Impeach who?"

"Your Excellency, the Prime Minister."

When Wei Guangde heard that Zhang Juzheng was still being impeached, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that it wasn't him. (End of this chapter)