prosperous age

"Join the cabinet?"

Hearing Wei Guangde's arrangement for Shen Shixing, Tan Lun was moved, but still asked.

Wei Guangde nodded slightly, "Rumo is already over 40. He was already 30 when he entered the court. He has gained about the same amount of experience in the past ten years."

Unlike Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng who were both successful in the imperial examinations at a young age, Shen Shixing entered officialdom at a relatively late age.

Of course, this is only in comparison with people like Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng.

In fact, thirty years old is the normal age to become an official, passing the palace examination and entering the official career.

Didn’t you see that although Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng became officials early, they also had to spend a lot of time working at the grassroots level, so their qualifications were also important.

The truth is that many people who enter officialdom at a young age do not receive any support. After all, they are too young and it is difficult for them to have a chance to be promoted, unless they rank very high in the palace examination.

Most of these people do not have good careers.

However, Shen Shixing was of the right age and had the status of the top scholar, so he was able to be promoted smoothly.

Even if Wei Guangde had not chosen him when he was looking for help, Shen Shixing would at most have entered the Ministry of Rites or the Ministry of Personnel in a year or two, and still have a hope of entering the cabinet.

What's more, Shen Shixing is capable and kind to others, and he has a very good reputation.

Hearing that Wei Guangde had finally gone this far and was going to nominate Shen Shixing from Nanzhili to join the cabinet, everyone felt somewhat unwilling.

However, they also understood that it was not easy for Zhang Juzheng to directly bring his fellow townsmen from Huguang into the cabinet, but since his fellow townsmen were being attacked, it was already good enough that Wei Guangde was able to choose an ally in the past few years.

After all, since Yan Song stepped down, officials in the court had secretly colluded to prevent Jiangxi officials from encroaching on important positions again.

It was already very difficult for Wei Guangde to keep both the positions of Minister of War and Minister of Works.

Moreover, in these two imperial examinations, the results of Jiangxi candidates were indeed not good.

In fact, since Jinda, no Jiangxi candidates have been among the top three.

If you don’t have a good background, your future career will be difficult.

"I think Shen Shixing is a good person. I've met him a few times and he seems to be quite respectful to Shandai."

Zhou Shouyu was in the Department of Rites and had more contact with Shen Shixing, so he put forward his own opinions first.

The other three did not respond, but after half a cup of tea, Tan Lun said, "Since we have already made a plan, let's do it.

Only when he enters the cabinet will we know whether he will join Shandai."

Now, Wei Guangde just lacks someone to speak for him in the cabinet. He can't just argue with Zhang Siwei about everything and let Zhang Juzheng arbitrate.

To be honest, now that Zhang Siwei is in the cabinet, apart from being a robot handling government affairs, he is also a puppet of Zhang Juzheng, who is used to restrain Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde understood this, so he was unwilling to argue with Zhang Siwei and would discuss any issues directly with Zhang Juzheng.

Before, when encountering problems, the two of them could still discuss and consult with each other, but now, after Zhang Juzheng's mourning period, his personality seemed to have changed.

Other officials may not have noticed it, but Wei Guangde, who had more contact with Zhang Juzheng, discovered something.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde suddenly said, "I have observed that Uncle Zhang's personality has changed slightly since he was confined to his post last year.

If I had discussed it with him in the past, especially with something as important as the Forbidden Academy that concerns all the scholars in the world, he would have considered it over and over again, and would never have rejected my proposal so resolutely as he did today."

"When the incident of guarding the system broke out, the reputation of Zhang among scholars plummeted, especially among the students in the academy, and..."

After hearing what Wei Guangde said, Zhou Shouyu immediately responded with a sentence, but suddenly stopped halfway through.

"Why, is there something you can't say?"

Wei Guangde asked with a smile.

"I think I know why Zhang Jiangling insisted on this matter. He Xinyin once accused Zhang Juzheng of being fatherless and motherless during his lectures, and many students in the academy today also think of Zhang Juzheng in this way."

Zhou Shouyu smiled bitterly.

"When he returned to his hometown to bury his father, he must have heard these rumors, so he decided to rectify the academic atmosphere."

Wei Shiliang spoke up.

Wei Guangde and Tan Lun both nodded.

"It seems that this matter really has to be implemented."

Wei Guangde shook his head regretfully. He already understood why Zhang Juzheng insisted, even if it meant offending scholars all over the world.

Yes, he already knew that his reputation among scholars had been ruined because of the mourning period, not to mention the two previous times when students impeached their teacher, causing him to lose all face.

Therefore, he chose to ban lectures, destroy academies, forbid scholars from forming houses, and unify public opinion.

"Shan Dai, since we can't stop him, when he really comes up with a memorial to implement it, we should still firmly oppose it."

Jiang Zhi spoke up.

Wei Guangde nodded and said with a wry smile: "I know about this matter and I will not keep silent.

However, they all told their disciples and friends to stay away from the academy, and asked their fellow townsmen who were serving as officials in the local area not to build any academies in the next few years. They also had to distance themselves from any academies that had been built in the past.

I also have to write to Jiangxi and ask them to tell the principals of the academies in Yuzhang and Bailudong that if the court really issues an order, they'd better make compromises and wait until later to come back."

Wei Guangde had visited the four major academies in Jiangxi, and he had a deep affection for them all.

The last time Wei Guangde returned to his hometown to mourn his father's death, representatives from these academies came to pay their respects. The reason for this was that after Wei Guangde became rich, he would donate money to these academies every year to support education.

This is actually what most officials would do, and they would donate money to support education to a certain extent.

Whether it is to increase reputation or to gild the reputation, in fact, famous academies have no shortage of funds and have very large networks of relationships.

Wei Guangde was also afraid that these old scholars would take it too seriously and go against the imperial court's policies, and Zhang Juzheng would use them as an example to scare others.

"As for He Xinyin's matter, we will deal with it when the time comes. We will save him if we can, and do our best. This will also be an explanation to the people in our hometown."

Wei Guangde continued.

Wei Guangde's words basically set the tone for the matter.

"But can this really be passed in the court?"

It was Jiang Zhi who spoke hesitantly at this time.

"Whether this is right or wrong is not the point. As long as the inner court approves the decree, officials can file a petition to object, but the decree has already been issued and must be carried out. Otherwise, it would be considered disobedience and they will be punished."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said with disdain.

Wei Guangde was certain that Feng Bao would be involved in making this happen, as long as Zhang Juzheng convinced him.

On the second day, Wei Guangde went to the cabinet to do his work as usual, and Zhang Juzheng did not take out the memorial to discuss it again. Everyone was busy with their own work as if nothing had happened. However, in the next few days, Zhang Juzheng kept summoning Zhang Siwei, Wang Guoguang, Zhang Xueyan and others to the palace, obviously to unify his side's attitude first.

It’s impossible that he would submit the memorial and then people in his own camp would jump out to oppose it.

Having lost face several times, Zhang Juzheng was not shameless enough to take an indifferent attitude.

As for the reason why Zhang Juzheng had not submitted the memorial for a long time, according to the results of the investigation by Wei Guangde, it was that Zhang Siwei, Zhang Xueyan and others did not say much, but a few people such as Wang Guoguang still firmly opposed it.

Yes, banning academies was no small matter for scholars.

Because of these constraints, the process was slowed down. Even the memorial submitted by Zhang Xueyan from the Ministry of Revenue was submitted first, and Zhang Juzheng's memorial to rectify the academic atmosphere was not submitted either.

The memorial from the Ministry of Revenue was sent directly to the Prime Minister's duty room. Before the afternoon session ended, Zhang Juzheng solemnly summoned the cabinet ministers to discuss the memorial.

“Increase taxes?”

Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde had both read this memorial and were familiar with its content.

Wei Guangde took a look at the formal memorial, which was not much different from the previous draft, and then handed it to Zhang Siwei.

However, Zhang Siwei, who came from a merchant family, had the first reaction when he saw the memorial from the Ministry of Revenue that the Ministry of Revenue was going to levy taxes on merchants.

"The tax system of our dynasty has been in place for a long time. How can we change it just like that?"

Zhang Siwei hurriedly read the memorial from the Ministry of Revenue requesting silver for postal payments and immediately spoke.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Juzheng turned his gaze to Wei Guangde, indicating that he should speak.

Zhang Xueyan's memorial actually made the following changes according to Wei Guangde's suggestion, dividing the world's goods into two categories: ordinary goods and fine goods.

Ordinary goods needed by the common people were taxed at the thirty-one percent rate set by the imperial court, while luxury goods were taxed at ten-one percent.

“The tax system and the apportionment of commercial taxes were all set in the early years. Now, there have been great changes in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, and the goods produced in various places are no longer the same as they were at the beginning of the country.

At the beginning of the country, everything was in short supply. Now, not only has the output of goods increased, but new goods are also being produced in many places.

The original commercial tax has long been out of date."

The most annoying thing about the Ming Dynasty tax system established by Zhu Yuanzhang is the quota.

This quota is not calculated based on the amount of trade. Instead, if a local commercial tax is set at one hundred taels, then even if the trade volume increases a hundred or a thousand times, he can only collect one hundred taels of silver in commercial tax.

This is also the reason why no matter how much the Ming Dynasty's national strength grew from its establishment to its demise, it had no impact at all on the national finances.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was short-sighted and did not consider the changes that might be caused by the changing times.

The merchants of the Ming Dynasty really took advantage of the situation.

Perhaps the commercial tax at the beginning of the dynasty was indeed levied at the rate of one thirty.

But in the middle and late stages, when commodity output increases, I am afraid that the tax rate will be even zero.

The output of handicrafts can be increased, but the output of farmland remains basically unchanged. Therefore, the taxes on farming, which Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to, did not decrease, and the merchants took advantage of it.

"I think Zhang Shangshu's memorial is very good. It will not increase the burden on the government, but will also allow the Ministry of Revenue to have long-term income. It also takes people's livelihood into consideration, and the impact on people's livelihood is almost negligible."

What Wei Guangde was talking about was, of course, levying a tax of one thirty percent on ordinary commodities actually used by the people.

"For merchants, the taxes and fees collected by the imperial court are actually paid by the buyers in the end. The court does not gain anything from them."

Wei Guangde said this to remind Zhang Siwei that the additional silver collected by the Ministry of Revenue for the exchange of notes would ultimately be borne by the consumers, not the merchants.

Well, Zhang Siwei had just seen this memorial, so he instinctively thought that the Ministry of Revenue was going to increase taxes on merchants.

But he forgot that the taxes borne by merchants will actually be passed on to consumers in the end, so they will not suffer any losses as they are in the middle.

As for the local governments, the struggle over mining taxes during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty was essentially Emperor Wanli's attempt to seize commercial taxes levied by local governments.

Commercial taxes in various places are fixed and cannot be over-collected. Even if there is any excess, officials will accept it privately and it will not be recorded in the government's account books.

Emperor Wanli sent tax officials to various places to collect mining taxes and other commercial taxes. This was to steal money from the government's already limited commercial taxes, resulting in a decrease in government revenue, which naturally met with collective opposition from civil servants.

Local officials would not take out the money that could be put into their own pockets to subsidize the part of commercial taxes taken by the emperor.

The improved silver for exchanging notes was no longer within the scope of commercial taxes. Local governments still collected taxes from pawnshops based on the amount of commercial taxes collected and gave them permission to continue operating as pawnshops.

The silver for note exchange is a new tax that goes directly into the national treasury and does not affect local tax revenue, so naturally there will not be much opposition from below.

Any official who cares about the court knows to some extent the financial difficulties it is facing.

Under the premise that it does not affect their interests, if he collects more money in exchange for notes, it will be his political achievement. He will have the opportunity to stand out during the year-end inspection and get a chance to be promoted, which will make everyone happy.

After listening to Wei Guangde's words, Zhang Siwei thought for a moment and reluctantly accepted it.

There was some movement in the Ministry of Revenue. In the evening, Wei Guangde called Shen Shixing and asked him about what he had said to him before.

"Mr. Wei, this is the first draft of the memorial I wrote on the reorganization of the community school. Please take a look."

Wei Guangde had summoned Shen Shixing before, but he did not say that he would be transferred to the Ministry of Personnel soon. It seemed better for him to stay in the Ministry of Rites for a while as he had a chance to accumulate merits.

However, we have to wait until Zhang Xueyan takes action before the Ministry of Rites can follow suit.

Wei Guangde took the first draft and read it quickly. It was basically the same as what they had discussed before. The government would bring local community schools under its management and ask the court to allocate money as basic funds for local community schools to meet educational needs.

In this way, two schools were formed locally: community schools and official schools. Community schools were used to popularize primary education, that is, literacy, while official schools were used to provide continuing education to students who had promising prospects for the imperial examinations, giving them the opportunity to stand out in the provincial examinations and then participate in the metropolitan examinations and palace examinations to become useful talents for the country.

"Lord, even if this matter is reported, the Ministry of Revenue is in financial distress and cannot afford to maintain the community school."

However, Shen Shixing also expressed his concerns at this time.

"Rumo, don't worry too much about this. The court has already found a way to solve the money needed by the community school."

Wei Guangde spoke, and then Wei Guangde told the matter of the memorial submitted by the Ministry of Revenue today, requesting the collection of silver for the exchange of letters.

"According to the records of nearby prefectures and counties, each place can add at least several hundred taels of silver for exchange every year, of which the money learned in the community school will be kept, and the rest will be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue to supplement the financial needs.

Since this concerns the great cause of national education, naturally no one is allowed to stop it.

Tomorrow the Cabinet will submit the Ministry of Revenue's memorial, and I believe that the news will soon be heard from other government offices.

Tomorrow morning, you will submit this memorial."

After hearing what Wei Guangde said, Shen Shixing naturally had nothing to worry about.

In fact, officials from the Ministry of Rites had already thought of this suggestion, but the court had no money, so naturally no one would bring it up.

This time, Shen Shixing also realized that there was obviously an old connection between the new taxes levied by the Ministry of Revenue and the memorial in his hand, and even that everything was planned by the cabinet.

Increasing a tax while proposing a policy that benefits the country and the people complement each other, so the opposition will naturally be reduced. (End of this chapter)