prosperous age

Chapter 1136 1227 Water Attack Sand
The governor was one of the highest local administrative officials in the Ming Dynasty. He had administrative, military, supervisory, and judicial powers over a province. The governor's duties included managing local government affairs, supervising officials, and handling judicial cases.

The inspectors were supervisory officials sent by the central government to inspect local areas, supervise the behavior of officials, and impeach officials who violated laws and disciplines.

Although the power of the Inspector General was not as great as that of the Governor-General, his power of impeachment had a great deterrent effect on local officials.

In the tenth year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang sent censors to inspect prefectures and counties. This was the beginning of the inspection in the Ming Dynasty. By the Yongle period, sending censors to inspect the whole country became a custom.

The post of governor was officially established during the Xuande and Zhengtong periods of the Ming Dynasty.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the highest local officials were the governor, the provincial judge and the provincial governor-general. The governor was in charge of the administration of a province, the provincial judge was in charge of the criminal law of a province, and the provincial commander-in-chief was in charge of the military affairs of a province.

Although this can concentrate imperial power to a great extent and prevent local forces from becoming powerful, the disadvantages are also obvious. Once encountering major government affairs, the three departments often fail to cooperate wholeheartedly and may even blame each other.

It was under such circumstances that the governor was born. In order to better govern the affairs of a province, the governor's authority was above that of the three officials when he was first established.

But then again, the court was uneasy about entrusting all local affairs to the governor.

Thus, the strategy of using inspectors to check and balance the governor came into being.

In fact, the discord between Zhang Xueyan and Liu Tai was a microcosm of the discord among all governors and inspectors in the Ming Dynasty, and it was the same in all places.

In terms of rank, the governor was mostly a Beijing official such as Shangshu, Shilang, Duyushi, Shaoqing, etc., and had a relatively high status.

Although the Inspector General was only a seventh-rank official in the capital, he was regarded as an imperial envoy and his actual power was no less than that of the Governor.

Both the governor and the provincial inspector had the function of inspecting local areas, and generally held the title of Censorate. The promotion, demotion and transfer of local officials at all levels were influenced by the governor and restricted by the provincial inspector. Therefore, conflicts between the provincial inspector and the governor were bound to arise.

Starting from the Jingtai period, the governors of all provinces were uniformly given the title of Chief Censor, while the inspectors were merely supervisory censors. In this way, the governors and inspectors became nominally in a superior-subordinate relationship.

However, later facts proved that the relationship between the governor and the provincial governor did not ease at all, but became increasingly tense. The provincial governor often abandoned his duties and encroached upon the authority of the governor.

The original intention of the imperial court in sending inspectors was to suppress the governor. After a long confrontation, the imperial court finally stood on the side of the inspectors and resolutely implemented the goal of using inspectors to control the local areas.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Inspector General always had a lower position than the Governor-General.

Therefore, it is understandable why Liu Tai snatched what should have been Zhang Xueyan’s responsibility.

But it should be noted that although both the governor and the inspector general hold the title of the Censorate, in reality only the inspector general is considered to be a member of the Censorate.

In fact, when Liu Tai was fighting for power, he was also setting an example for his colleagues in the Censorate. Now that he is in trouble, the censors in the court should be more biased towards him.

However, since it has been decided that Yu Yingchang will go to Liaodong to investigate the Liu Tai case, based on the relationship between Yu Yingchang and Zhang Siwei, the bias is obvious.

In fact, it was at this time in the original time and space that the Censorate, which had always been neutral in the Ming Dynasty, did side with Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng not only had the support of the inner court, but also had the help of the Censorate and the six departments. This enabled him to invade the court and the country and complete almost impossible reforms.

Wei Guangde had no intention of reading the memorials, so he sat quietly in the duty room thinking about the change in the attitude of the Censorate.

This is definitely not a good signal. Even if he and Zhang Juzheng have a good relationship in private, he still has to be on guard.

Gao Gong was quietly taken away by Zhang Juzheng when he was at the peak of his career.

Until now, I heard that Gao Gong is still in Xinzheng cursing Zhang Juzheng all the time.

In fact, Wei Guangde had more or less understood what was going on by this time, and could only say that Zhang Juzheng was plotting against him.

In fact, the mess left behind by Emperor Jiajing was mainly due to the national fiscal deficit, but the officials selected were actually quite good.

Therefore, the court left to Emperor Longqing was full of talented people.

Although Zhang Juzheng inherited Xu Jie's mantle and had great influence in the court, he was still the youngest person in the cabinet and found it difficult to win the support of the people, even though he had entered the cabinet ahead of many others to accumulate experience.

Faced with so many people in the cabinet, such as Chen Yiqin, Zhao Zhenji and others, except Li Chunfang, Zhang Juzheng knew it would be difficult to fight them. So when someone lobbied for Gao Gong, he pulled Gao Dapao back to the capital from Xinzheng.

If Gao Gong's strong style quickly drove out Chen Yiqin and others after he returned to the court, Zhang Juzheng was only reluctantly accepted by Gao Gong because of his early relationship with Gao Gong and their common political ideas.

However, no one expected that the most crucial figure, Emperor Longqing, would die so young.

Gao Gong wanted to help the country and could not stand the inner court being in power, so he always wanted to take back the power of the Imperial Household Department.

After Chen Hong chose to support Gao Gong, he also chose to support Chen Hong, thus forcing out the Feng-Zhang alliance.

After the death of Emperor Longqing, the key evidence for expelling Gao Gong, that is, the sentence "How can a ten-year-old prince rule the world" or "How can a ten-year-old child be a ruler", became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Gao Gong originally said this in the cabinet, but it was revealed to Feng Bao by Zhang Juzheng, so Gao Gong has been angry that Zhang Juzheng stabbed him in the back and ended his official career.

The Censorate.
Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but rub his eyebrows.

Now that Zhang Xueyan is dealing with Liu Tai, he has pushed the Censorate to Zhang Juzheng's side. This is probably something no one expected.

Zhang Juzheng was probably celebrating in his duty room when this happened, but Wei Guangde felt uncomfortable.

Although he also sent some of his fellow villagers to the Censorate to serve as censors, such a decision could not be made by the lower-level censors but could only be the result of the game between the upper and lower levels of the Censorate.

"Snapped."

Suddenly, Wei Guangde slapped his forehead.

He had forgotten about it before, but now that he thought of the Censorate, he realized the root of the matter.

It was soon time to inspect the officials, and I was wondering why Zhang Xueyan was making such a scene at this time. It turned out that the reason was here.

"Three sixty-nine"

Wei Guangde murmured to himself and soon calculated that it had been nine years since Zhang Xueyan left Beijing. It was almost time for another inspection. If the evaluation was good, it seemed that he should return to Beijing and join the Six Ministries.

He was just betting that if he could please Zhang Juzheng and let him vent his anger, Zhang Juzheng would also ask the Ministry of Personnel to give him good comments.

It seems that although Zhang Juzheng did not take action against the Censorate, Zhang Siwei must have secretly transferred a lot of money into it.

At this time, Wei Guangde realized that he had been fooled by Zhang Juzheng.

He and Zhang Juzheng had a gentleman's agreement in private that they would not interfere in the Censorate, but if his "followers" interfered, he could just pretend to be ignorant.

"The Censorate, nine years."

Wei Guangde quickly thought about it in his mind at this time, and finally made the decision that he had not made before.

Previously, Zhang Juzheng had hinted that he should choose from among the thirteen provinces, and finally selected Fujian as the pilot for the land survey. Wei Guangde was still considering where to put Lao Kan.

Whether to join the Six Ministries or seek to be a governor-general, although he had always planned to ask Lao Kan to help him control the Censorate, he had been unable to do so because of the agreement with Zhang Juzheng.

But now seeing that the Censorate was about to side with the Zhang Er camp, Wei Guangde had no choice but to fight back.

Deputy Chief Censor, this was the new job that Wei Guangde was considering for Lao Kanmou, and it was also a preparation for his future promotion to Chief Censor or head of a ministry.

The Censorate of the Ming Dynasty consisted of the Left and Right Censors-in-Chief, the Left and Right Deputy Censors-in-Chief, and the Left and Right Assistant Censors-in-Chief, from top to bottom.

The yamen had not only the well-known thirteen censors, but also four other departments: Experience, Office, Review and Prison.

Among them, the Lijing, Siwu and Zhaomo were the internal administration department of the Censorate, responsible for organizing internal documents and conveying internal information, while the Siyu was the specialized prison department within the Censorate.

They were usually assisted by the Deputy Chief Censor, and also helped the Chief Censor to handle duties such as audience, evaluation, and impeachment.

The Chief Censor generally managed 13 prefectures, and directly participated in the review of major events together with the Chief Censor and the Deputy Chief Censor. If Lao Kan could be pushed to the position of Deputy Chief Censor, Wei Guangde would have a certain say in the Censorate, at least someone would speak for him.

For example, in the Liu Tai case, when the other party was clearly displaying their weapons, we could speak out to stop them and arrange for other neutral censors to go to Liaodong to investigate the case.

In fact, as long as it was not the imperial censor from the Zhang family who inspected Liaodong, Liu Tai could basically get away with it.

After all, what Liu Tai did was actually helping the Censorate to seize power.

In the future, when the censors go to local areas, they will have greater power and more glory.

"Chen Zan."

Thinking of the current Chief Censor, Wei Guangde immediately thought of that stubborn old man.

I have to find an opportunity to talk to him, Wei Guangde made up his mind.

It just so happened that something went wrong when the Censorate sent someone this time. Although Chen Zan's attitude was still unknown, based on Wei Guangde's understanding of him, Chen Zan would not do such a thing.

It is very likely that this decision was made with the support of some of the Deputy Censors-in-Chief and the Assistant Censors-in-Chief under the Censorate.

The person in charge still has to consider the feelings of his subordinates to some extent. If there are many supporters, he cannot oppose it even if he wants to, otherwise it will easily lead to being abandoned by everyone.

His predecessor Ge Shouli was kicked out of the Ministry of Revenue for this very reason and had to stay idle for many years before he could make a comeback.

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde still had to admire Gao Gong a little, that is, Gao Gong did a better job than both him and Zhang Juzheng in the matter of the Censorate.

The two of them privately agreed not to interfere with the Censorate and let it be "independent", but Gao Gong really treated the Censorate as a supervisory agency and directly handed it over to the stubborn Ge Shouli.

It was because Chen Zan had nothing to do with either of them that he had the opportunity to be recognized by them and take over Ge Shouli's position.

"Sir, Minister Jiang Zhijiang wants to see you."

Just as I was thinking about something, Lu Bu came in from outside to report.

"Invite him in."

Wei Guangde immediately gave an order and stood up to greet him.

"Good loans."

As Jiang Zhi entered the room, he bowed to Wei Guangde, and Wei Guangde hurriedly returned the greeting and invited him to come in and sit down.

Jiang Zhi also came to the cabinet on official business. After a brief greeting, Jiang Zhi went straight to the point and stated his purpose.

"This is the memorial that the Ministry has just received. It is the "Memorial on the Strategy of the Two Rivers" submitted by Pan Jixun, the Governor of the Rivers. I would like to ask you to take a look at it first."

Jiang Zhi took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it over. Wei Guangde took it and started to read it.

From the name, we can tell that Pan Jixun must have had a preliminary idea for regulating the Yellow River and the Huai River. So when Wei Guangde was reading it, he asked, "What is the Ministry of Works' regulations on this?"

"Memorial on the Strategy of the Two Rivers" is the first comprehensive plan in history for the integrated management of the Yellow River, Huai River and the Grand Canal.

In "Two Rivers Strategy", they put forward "Six Proposals for River Management": plug the breach to save the river, build dikes to prevent breaches, restore sluice gates to prevent external rivers, create rolling dams to strengthen the dikes, stop dredging projects to save costs, and shelve the proposal to open the old Yellow River to allow for easy crossing.

"Several officials in the Ministry of Industry have quite a lot of controversy about this, and they are all a little worried."

Jiang Zhi spoke up.

"Ah."

Wei Guangde did not say much. After reading the entire memorial, he thought for a moment before saying, "It seems to be no different from the previous flood control. I don't know how long this can last."

In recent years, the imperial court has spent a lot of money on water control, but the results have been minimal and trouble will arise in a few years.

The fastest incident was in the fifth year of Longqing's reign. Pan Jixun reported his success in flood control, but the next moment, trouble arose and he was dismissed from office.

“There are some changes.”

But unexpectedly, Jiang Zhi spoke up.

"where?"

Wei Guangde was suspicious. He read the memorials and saw that they were all about building dams and sluice gates, all the same methods of flood control.

"here."

In the memorial, Jiang Zhi pointed out a passage that said: "High embankments were built on both sides of the river below Xuzhou to divert the river water back to the canal and force the Huai River to flow out of Qingkou.

Although Brother Weiliang also meant to build a dam, he mentioned narrowing the river channel earlier. After discussion, we think he wants to control the water and attack the sand."

Hearing the words "Shushui Gongsha", Wei Guangde immediately became excited.

He remembered that this word existed in history, and it seemed that it was proposed by Pan Jixun.

However, this was the first time he heard of it in this era, so if Jiang Zhi hadn't said it, he would have almost forgotten this method.

"The idea of ​​controlling water flow and attacking sand is good, but it also carries huge risks. If the water flow is gentle, it will be ok and can carry away some sand. But if there is a heavy rain and the water flow is rapid, there is a risk that the dam will collapse."

Soon, Jiang Zhi expressed the opinions of other people in the Ministry of Works, which included his own understanding. In fact, Jiang Zhi was also skeptical about Pan Jixun's "Memorial on the Strategy of the Two Rivers" for this reason.

So, when Wei Guangde asked, he went straight to the point.

Wei Guangde didn't think about all this. All the articles he saw in later generations were those that praised this method. But now, he also felt that what Jiang Zhi said made sense.

"What does the Ministry of Industry mean?"

Wei Guangde had no choice but to ask.

"There are no opinions yet, there are disagreements."

Jiang Zhi said: "However, most people think that this method may be beneficial to transportation in the short term. After all, it is a great way to wash away the silt.

But in the opinion of many people, this method is only a temporary solution and does not address the root cause, it just relieves the congestion. "

Many people in the Ministry of Works were involved in river engineering, so they naturally knew what water control was all about.

River work is really not that easy.

"What this means is that if the court approves his memorial, it may be a waste of money, or it may only last for a few years?"

Wei Guangde asked with a frown.

He didn't pay much attention to it before, and just followed what others said. Everyone said that it was good to control water and attack sand, so he thought it was a good idea.

After all, it does make sense logically.

However, according to Jiang Zhi, the siltation problem cannot be solved fundamentally, and the risk of dam collapse will increase greatly after the water is diverted.

At this time, Wei Guangde had to think about this matter seriously.