prosperous age

"You want to recommend Hai Rui?"

In the flower hall of Wei's mansion, Lao Kan expressed his thoughts, which shocked Wei Guangde.

As for who Hai Rui was, it can be said that Wei Guangde never thought that any official would mention this name and suggest appointing him.

You know, when Hai Rui resigned, although all the officials acted reluctant and kept trying to keep him, they were actually very happy in their hearts.

At that time, Hai Rui resigned not only because he encountered setbacks in his official career, but also because he knew that he was disliked by those in power.

Neither Gao Gong nor Zhang Juzheng liked him and only continued to exclude and marginalize him.

In such an environment, if he continues to stay in officialdom, he will not only be stigmatized as a power-hungry person, but will also make himself feel uncomfortable.

Hai Rui became an official not to gain any benefits for himself or his family, but only wanted to work for the country and the people and contribute what he had learned throughout his life.

He was extremely disgusted with the current situation in the Ming officialdom, where local officials gained profits by levying heavy taxes and levies, while officials in Beijing accepted gifts from local officials and provided them with protection.

It’s a pity that he can’t find many like-minded people. Leaving may be the best option, out of sight, out of mind.

At this time, Hai Rui had already returned to his hometown to farm.

Yes, Hai Rui is now a peasant, busy in the fields all day long.

He did not use his status as a retired official to seek donations of land. Otherwise, he would not have to do anything, as countless rents would have flown into his hands every year, enough for him to live a carefree life.

From this point of view, he can be regarded as a true clean official and moral role model in the Ming Dynasty of that era.

It’s a pity that even Zhang Juzheng couldn’t accept him.

In fact, almost all officials, even those who still have a little bit of shame in their hearts, only believe in the principle that "the water is too clear to have fish".

They can control their own hands, but they will never prevent others from making money.

In the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng was greedy for power and formed cliques for personal gain, which even his students despised.

The second assistant Wei Guangde plundered the people's wealth, engaged in business for personal gain, and ignored the interests of the country.

The cabinet minister Zhang Siwei, who was originally from a merchant family and was even more keen on money, also recruited many people to strengthen his influence.

These are not actually secrets.

Zhang Juzheng was aware of the criticisms against him from the public, and so were Wei Guangde and others. They also arranged for people to pay attention to public opinion, especially the evaluations of them by some influential celebrities.

Although Hai Rui was not a good official, he was highly respected by the people, especially in Jiangnan, where he had served as an official. This was Hai Rui's base.

Hai Rui's evaluation of the cabinet was what he said when he visited relatives and friends on his way back home after retirement and after he returned home. Wei Guangde also asked someone to find out the truth.

I think Zhang Juzheng should be well aware of this.

So, in fact, in recent years, there have been a few local officials who have proposed to reinstate Hai Rui, but he would never be able to pass the imperial court.

Wei Guangde knew that Zhang Juzheng would never allow Hai Rui to return.

But Wei Guangde never expected that Lao Kan would actually tell him to let Hai Rui come out of retirement.

"Shandai, do you know how the silver exchange you are promoting will work locally?"

Lao Kan asked, "Local governments will pass it on to the people. In name, merchants pay taxes in silver, but in reality, these taxes are added to the cost of goods. It's more of a tax on the people than a tax on the merchants."

In response, Wei Guangde nodded slightly and said leisurely: "Taxes, no matter how they are collected, are ultimately borne by the people of the world."

"Yes, it is borne by all the people of the world. If, as you think, the taxes collected by the court are used to support local community schools, it is actually a blessing for the common people. After all, they can send their children to school and learn to read and write.

Although it was useless for taking the imperial examinations, it was still easy to find a job in the town with literacy.

But now some places have already had their eyes on this money. One is to collect taxes and collude with merchants to lower the price of goods, and then divide the profits 50% among themselves. The other is to find ways to falsely report the funds for the community schools and seek personal gain. "

Lao Kan said.

"This is your job in the Censorate. What does a censor do?"

Wei Guangde looked at Lao Kan and asked with some amusement.

"I can still watch over this side of the north, but what about the south?"

Lao Kan asked seriously.

This is the issue of power distribution caused by the establishment of the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty, the capital has the greatest power among the six ministries, but because of the fear of abuse of power, the management rights of the southern provinces were transferred to Nanjing.

As for Nanjing, to put it bluntly, the emperor is far away and the sky is high, so a lot of dirty things have been done.

"The Nanjing Censorate is out of control?"

Wei Guangde asked with a frown.

"In the past, the six departments supervised the court and the Censorate, and the Censorate supervised all officials. Now, the power of the six departments is intimidated by the Prime Minister, and most people in the Censorate are intimidated by the six departments and have no choice but to curry favor with the powerful."

Lao Kan whispered.

"Hiss, are you saying that the Censorate is now afraid of the Prime Minister?"

Wei Guangde asked hurriedly.

Wei Guangde knew that the Six Ministries were afraid of Zhang Juzheng. After all, the power to supervise the Six Ministries was in the hands of Zhang Juzheng, which was originally the emperor's right.

However, the little emperor himself was still young, so he naturally could not exercise this right.

However, just because the Censorate is afraid of the Prime Minister, doesn't this mean that the Prime Minister has lost the constraints in the original structure?

Before, Wei Guangde had noticed that something was wrong with the Censorate, but he thought at the time that those people were just Zhang Juzheng or Zhang Siwei's men, so he hurriedly sent Lao Kan and some other fellow villagers to the Censorate.

Now after hearing Lao Kan's words, he suddenly realized that things might not be as he thought.

No one would be without fear, just like the censors of the Censorate. Although they were called mad dogs outside, Zhu Yuanzhang was so capable that he naturally designed an organization to supervise them, which was the Six Departments.

The emperor not only has the sword of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in his hand, but also the Six Departments and the Censorate, a group of mad dogs influenced by the Six Departments.

Low-ranking officials dare not say anything to those who have made outstanding contributions and hold high positions of power, so they go to the Jinyiwei.

But for ordinary civil servants, or even civil servants with greater power, censors are more useful.

First ruin their reputation, and then you can take advantage of them.

"Let's not talk about the Prime Minister's matter for now."

Wei Guangde shook his head and whispered something before he asked seriously, "You recommended Hai Rui. What official position do you want him to hold?"

Wei Guangde knew that even though Zhang Juzheng seemed to be in his prime, the Ming Dynasty's affairs would sooner or later wear him down.

It was mainly because of the things he had to do, many of which violated the taboos of civil servants, so Zhang Juzheng had few allies and had to do many things himself.

Since Lao Kan mentioned Hai Rui, Wei Guangde wanted to know what position Lao Kan had planned for him and what he would do.

"The Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate's Assistant Censor-in-Chief, take on the supervisory power in the south first."

Lao Kan said, “During this trip to Zhejiang, I stayed in Nanzhili and Zhejiang for quite a while, and I felt that the situation there was a little out of control.

The decrees issued by the imperial court are always implemented in name only at the local level, but in reality they are somewhat distorted. " Lao Kan didn't know how to describe it, but there was indeed a problem.

Although the Imperial Censors were sent by the court to supervise officials in local areas, the Censors of the Nanjing Censorate naturally stayed in Nanjing for a long time and had frequent contacts with officials in these places. They were more or less involved in local interests, and their supervisory powers were greatly reduced.

"There are policies and measures to counter."

Wei Guangde whispered.

"That's pretty much it. If it's good for them, they support the implementation. If it's bad, they try to circumvent it."

Lao Kan said immediately.

"Human nature."

However, Wei Guangde did not react at all. Instead, he spoke as if he understood.

Upon hearing this, Lao Kan stared at Wei Guangde with a puzzled look on his face.

Wei Guangde smiled at Lao Kan and said, "One should not meddle in other people's affairs if one is not in the position to do so. Since you are in the Censorate, it is your responsibility to supervise all officials.

When I was in the cabinet, I was concerned about whether the court's decrees were implemented at the local level.

As you said, after some government orders were issued, they were not implemented properly at the local level. We had actually thought about this early on.

But it depends on the purpose of our policy. If the purpose remains the same, even if there are some changes, we will not care. "

“Only focus on the results, not the process.”

Lao Kan whispered.

Wei Guangde nodded slightly. Lao Kan was right. They held different official positions and what they asked the local authorities to do were completely different.

"Alas, if you want Hai Rui to take up a government post and take charge of the Nanjing Censorate, I'm afraid it will be very difficult."

Wei Guangde shook his head and sighed.

Although he holds shares in some chambers of commerce, he always tells them that they can avoid taxes if possible, but still have to pay the taxes they owe and cannot evade taxes from the state.

Wei Guangde did not care whether this was the case in the actual process.

In his opinion, even if he arranged people to supervise strictly, the people below would still learn bad things sooner or later.

They were lucky not to be discovered.

It doesn’t matter if they are discovered. The parties involved will be dealt with accordingly, fined if necessary and punished if necessary.

Wei Guangde might help reduce their punishment, but he would never let anyone cover up for them.

He can show them the way and open up a business environment for them, but he will never use his power to make money or create a monopoly. That is the style of bureaucratic capitalism.

There are actually two types of capitalism: bureaucratic capital and free capital.

The latter are the main force of capitalism, and they are also hostile to bureaucratic capital because bureaucratic capital not only controls capital but also holds power, and they cannot compete with them at all.

However, for nobles or other powerful families, monopoly seems to be more favored by them because it can guarantee them stable profits, so they promote the bureaucratic capitalism.

As for the destructive impact on the market, they cannot see it.

It was actually Zhang Juzheng who prevented Hai Rui from taking up an official position.

It is said that Hai Rui is impartial and just, but when dealing with Xu Jie's case, he took Xu Jie's life into consideration. So after finding out the Xu family's case, he did not enforce the law impartially. Instead, he wanted to save face for Xu Gong and negotiated privately, hoping that the Xu family would give up half of the land to settle the matter.

His actions seemed to be beneficial to the Xu family and a compromise, but in fact they offended Gao Gong, who had intended to kill Xu Jie.

Xu Jie refused and asked Zhang Juzheng to help mediate. However, he did not give Zhang Juzheng any face, which made Zhang Juzheng have an opinion of him.

For those who create trouble for them, senior officials usually marginalize them so that they cannot cause trouble for them.

It's so hard to get this troublemaker to leave, how can we possibly use him again?

If Zhang Juzheng did not agree, even if Wei Guangde supported it, it would probably be difficult to pass.

It’s not easy to pass the cabinet, let alone the Ministry of Personnel.

Moreover, if Hai Rui was really allowed to take on the position of Chief Censor and Supervisory Censor, the things that Zhang Juzheng wanted the censor to do would be greatly exaggerated by Hai Rui.

"You recommended Hai Rui mainly because you wanted him to supervise the collection of commercial taxes in Jiangnan?"

Wei Guangde suddenly asked.

"Yes, let Hai Rui supervise the Jiangnan Censorate to check the collection and use of local exchange silver."

Lao Kan said frankly.

Before, Lao Kan's words were all about the exchange of silver, which was actually the commercial tax in Wei Guangde's plan.

In fact, Wei Guangde had always planned to set up a separate tax collection agency or to establish a special tax collection office within the Ministry of Revenue.

Well, actually, it is the National Tax Bureau of later generations, which is managed vertically from the central government to local governments. After collecting taxes at the local governments, a proportion of the tax will be allocated to the local governments as funds for the operation of local governments, and the rest will be directly paid to the ministry as court income.

There are many benefits to setting up a special tax collection office. At least it can limit local officials from imposing various taxes on top of the tax collection through apportionment.

In fact, what crushed the people of the Ming Dynasty was not the taxes from the imperial court, but the miscellaneous taxes imposed by local officials.

However, the problem that arises from this is that the Ming Dynasty’s government has always been a small government, not the all-encompassing large government of later generations.

In fact, there is a lot of resistance to setting up a special tax collection office, which can even be said to be subversive.

The Ming Dynasty court, or ancient China, was a typical small government.

"Imperial power does not extend to the countryside." Grassroots management relies more on clans and gentry, and the imperial court can only manage up to the county level.

There is only one county government office in a county, and dozens of people have to manage all aspects of the county, while there are only a few people on the payroll.

If a vertically managed government office was really established, and used to collect taxes, Wei Guangde would not know how people would criticize him.

At that time, due to the limitations of the level of education and transportation and communication conditions, grassroots governance only reached the county level. Officials focused on tax collection, household registration, and public security and stability, and the rest was left to the self-governance of local elders.

Backward transportation means that it takes more than a month to transmit government orders, scarce educational resources make it difficult to cultivate the literacy of the entire population, and low productivity levels make it difficult to meet the costs of complex governance. In desperation, they can only focus on key issues and rely on gentry clans to maintain rural order.

But this is by no means an active choice, it is really a helpless act.

In fact, at that time, both the East and the West implemented this model, except that in the West, small nobles were used to control local order. This system was also easily accepted by the king during the colonial era dominated by him, and overseas governors with great power were granted fiefdoms.

The corresponding big government model was the Great Depression of 1929, when the government began to dominate the economy.

Under the dominance of the Keynesian economic system, increased government spending, government planning, etc., expanded the economy, created jobs, and solved many problems.

In the early years after World War II, Keynes's theory of state interventionism, namely "big government, small business", developed very effectively in many countries.

"If I remember correctly, Hai Rui was the head of the Ministry of Revenue."

At this moment, Wei Guangde was thinking about this matter quickly in his mind.

He suddenly realized that perhaps Hai Rui was indeed a good helper in promoting the establishment of the taxation office. (End of this chapter)