prosperous age

When Lashen was in power, he asked the cabinet to help him share the burden. Zhang Juzheng acted very quickly. On the next day, the first draft of the cabinet's memorial appeared on Wei Guangde's desk.

Before going to bed last night, Zhang Ji passed a note to the backyard, saying that Zhang Juzheng was hosting a banquet for Feng Bao at his mansion tonight.

According to Wei Guangde's judgment, it was most likely that he discussed this matter with Feng Bao.

In terms of relationships in the palace, Wei Guangde is definitely no match for Zhang Juzheng.

Although he and Feng Bao made money in Myanmar together, it did not mean that Feng Bao would abandon Zhang Juzheng and choose to fully support him.

Wei Guangde glanced over the first draft and only modified a few words. He then called Lu Bu in and asked him to send the first draft back to the Prime Minister's duty room.

Near noon, Lu Bu was seen hurriedly coming in from the outer room and placing a note on Wei Guangde's desk.

Wei Guangde reached out to take it and took a look, his expression becoming solemn.

"Are you finally going to take action?"

Wei Guangde's face looked very ugly. Although he had made up his mind to give up, when the time came, he still felt a little reluctant.

Yes, the note in my hand was sent by Wei Shiliang from the Ministry of Justice. It was the note from the Prime Minister to the Ministry of Justice, asking them to issue an order to arrest He Xinyin.

According to the information, He Xinyin was still lecturing in Huguang at that time and running around for the "Qiuren Guild Hall" which he founded.

Now that the imperial court banned academies, they naturally changed their appearance. He Xinyin also changed the name of the academy to a guild hall for carrying out activities.

From the note, Wei Guangde already knew that Zhang Juzheng wanted to arrest He Xinyin on the grounds that he had violated the law by giving lectures and running an academy everywhere.

So Wei Guangde decisively took out a piece of paper, quickly wrote a word, and then threw it to Lu Bu and ordered: "Send it over."

Lu Bu took the note and quickly walked out of the duty room, but he also glanced at the words on the note: "Drag".

This is all that can be done. Wei Guangde believes that someone will naturally write a letter to Huguang, asking He Xinyin to run away quickly.

As for the rest, Wei Guangde didn't plan to do anything.

Although the imperial court had issued an order prohibiting private lectures and the establishment of academies, Wei Guangde had no idea what was going on in his head when he was really arrested on this charge. He really wanted to cut himself off from the scholarly community.

This kind of thing can be said but not done.

The best way to deal with it is to put pressure on them, so that they will be cautious and cautious, while also preserving the dignity of the court.

However, on the Ministry of Justice's side, Wei Shiliang was dragging his feet and refused to issue any written documents. At this time, the Minister of Justice, Yan Qing, took the opportunity to hand the matter over to Wei Shiliang and kept himself out of trouble.

Although Zhang Juzheng seemed to have great power in the country, any discerning person could see that it would not last long.

Therefore, after Yan Qing succeeded Wang Chonggu as the Minister of Justice, he chose neither to lean towards Wei Guangde nor to get close to Zhang Juzheng. He chose to be unique, not to recognize anyone, and to act in accordance with the law.

His actions helped him gain a firm foothold in the court.

It should be noted that the fact that Yan Qing was able to head the Ministry of Justice was related to the fact that he was born in Yunnan and had almost no connections in the court.

In other words, he was a commoner that both Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde could accept, and at least he was not their enemy.

Employing such officials can also give the outside world an impression that they are not selecting officials based on nepotism, which is considered to be a way of gilding their own image.

Of course, this type of official position is limited to non-core power, such as the Ministry of War, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Personnel and other important government offices. Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde would never let go easily.

Wei Guangde was not very concerned about He Xinyin's matter, so it did not disrupt his plans.

That night, Lao Kan and Wei Shiliang visited the Wei Mansion one after another. So the next day, Wei Guangde invited Lao Kan from the Censorate and Tan Lun from the Ministry of War to the cabinet to discuss the issue of post and delivery.

"Hasn't Zhang Ke replied yet?"

Wei Guangde from the cabinet was on duty, and Tan Lun asked as soon as he sat down.

Previously, Wei Guangde had said that he intended to let Zhang Ke join the Ministry of War. Tan Lun also knew him. He was the Inspector General of Zhejiang Province and had temporarily taken over Hu Zongxian's job and was responsible for suppressing the Japanese invaders in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

As for his work, he did a good job and seemed to be capable, so Tan Lun did not object to transferring Zhang Ke to the Ministry of War to give it a try.

"No, it's time to reply."

Wei Guangde glanced at Lao Kan and saw him shaking his head, so he also smiled bitterly.

"Perhaps, Jin Qing is still considering it."

Lao Kan interrupted.

After all, Zhang Ke has always said that he would not serve in the government again. He is tired of the officialdom and feels that it would be better to be a rich man at home.

Anyway, he has already passed the imperial examination and is still suppressed by his superiors in the officialdom. In his hometown, he is the master, and even the officials have to be respectful when they see him.

I haven’t seen who are his peers with Zhang Ke, the current Wei cabinet minister.

"I invited you two here today for one thing: what is the attitude of the Censorate and the Ministry of War towards the reform of the postal system?

I want to understand it clearly so that it will be easier for me to communicate with the Prime Minister later."

Wei Guangde said.

Last night, Lao Kan came to the mansion and explained the situation. Lao Kan from the Ministry of War supported it, but Zeng Shengwu felt that the post station was originally a system for the court to transmit official documents and military intelligence, so how could it be used to transmit letters from the people.

Moreover, how great is the demand for private letter delivery?

Is it worth it for the post office to develop this business specifically? Even if it is not done well, there are only a few people delivering letters in a year. The private letter delivery seems to be convenient for a few people, but it makes the post officers work hard, which seems not worth the cost.

"The Ministry of War is mainly worried about the insufficient number of letters from the people being delivered by post, and it is inconvenient to start a business specifically for this purpose."

Tan Lun thought about it and spoke frankly.

It seems like just sending a letter, which doesn't seem to take much effort, but the letter is transferred from one place to another and will go through several stations depending on the distance.

Any accident during transmission may cause big trouble, or the letter may be sent directly to an unknown place.

Regarding charges, although the Ming Dynasty’s post stations were spread all over the country, most of them were outside the city, not inside.

As for the common people, they may live in various places, so I'm afraid no one would be willing to do the job of delivering letters.

Zeng Shengwu considered it from a practical perspective and believed that no one would be willing to run errands because there was no visible benefit.

Wei Guangde glanced at Lao Kan, and then he understood a little.

When he discussed it with Lao Kan before, he did say something in accordance with the practice of later generations, which is to fix the postage.

Only when the postage is cheap enough and ordinary people can afford it can the postal delivery market be opened up.

However, the literacy rate among the people was not high those days, so there was really no need for postal services.

Generally speaking, in local or neighboring areas, people would just ask someone to pass on a message and would never choose to write a letter.

However, it is not completely without a market. Those poor scholars, if they can write well, can still make a living by setting up a stall and writing or reading letters.

In rural areas, even if there is no scholar or student in the village, there are always a few, and the head of the village and the head of the village are required to be literate. Therefore, there is still a need for correspondence between relatives living in different places.

"Let's not talk about that for now. How much copper coins do you think is appropriate for postage per letter?"

Wei Guangde asked first.

"Before, Ren Zhi also said that the Fujian Civil Letter Bureau only handles business within the province. I thought that the most correspondence these days is probably within the province.

So, I think we should set a postage based on the province, and set another postage for cross-provincial shipments.

But if you drop off a letter, you can ask someone to deliver it to the post station. But once you get there, how do you get the recipient to pick it up? I'm afraid you have to go out and deliver the letter yourself."

Lao Kan said, "Yesterday afternoon, the person in charge of the complicated post office of our Ministry of War proposed an idea.

If the people need to send a letter, they can directly find a post station and pay for the delivery. The fee is six copper coins within the province and one copper coin outside the province.

When a letter was delivered to a certain place, the postman would help deliver it to the person's home, and the recipient would have to give the postman two copper coins as a thank you.

What Ren Zhi said at the beginning, that he could cover the delivery of the letter to the door with just a few copper coins, was absolutely not feasible. The postmen would not travel for nothing to do such a thing.

For this kind of errands in the folks, you have to pay a few cents for tea and water."

"This is a good idea. At least the postman can earn a few cents by running errands, so he shouldn't object."

Wei Guangde nodded in agreement. He thought that dividing the money at the end of the year was a bit abrupt and his subordinates might not buy into it.

After all, it was not the society of later times. At that time, the post office had a special establishment and paid salaries on time every month.

The most important thing is that there is a huge difference between the postal service and the express couriers. Although the express couriers also receive wages, their welfare benefits are definitely not as good as those of the postal system.

In this industry, the government is definitely subsidizing you, so don't expect to make money by delivering letters.

The monthly wages of those who worked in the post office were actually very little, barely enough to make ends meet.

Asking them to deliver letters on a voluntary basis is wishful thinking.

"In addition, each post station will entrust a shop in the nearest county town to help receive letters from the people. The fee will be one penny for each letter. It is up to you to decide. Do you think it is worth opening the service?"

Wei Guangde began to discuss with Tan Lun, mainly analyzing and arranging the various concerns raised by the Ministry of War.

Although the final result of the discussion is not perfect, it is the most feasible solution in this era.

According to preliminary results, it cost six copper coins to send a letter within the province and ten copper coins to send a letter outside the province. The recipient also had to pay two copper coins as errand fee to the postman at the post station.

"There may not be many mail deliveries at the beginning, but I think in a year or two, there will be more mail deliveries."

In this era, don’t think that there is no market for everything. In fact, it’s not that there is no market, but that there is no one to develop it. Also, it is too complicated and difficult to operate.

The emergence of private letter offices along the coast actually shows that even in ancient times, writing letters to report safety was a popular demand among the people.

The imperial court maintains the post system, and it would be a pity if it does not make use of it.

In addition, the cultivation of habits is also a process. Especially with the promotion of community schools and the improvement of people's literacy rate, the number of people writing and delivering letters will definitely increase.

If the Ming Dynasty really transitions to a capital economy, the mobility of the civilian population will increase greatly, and the demand for this will also increase.

Wei Guangde didn't think there was anything wrong with making some preparations in advance.

"In the next two days, we will finalize the regulations and report them to the cabinet."

Finally, Tan Lun spoke.

Later, at a small cabinet meeting before the end of the court, Wei Guangde also informed Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Siwei about the post reform.

Now Shen Shixing has not yet entered the cabinet and no memorials have been submitted, so the cabinet still consists of three of them.

Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Siwei naturally would not object to such policies that benefit the people.

They all have their own channels for delivering letters, but there is naturally still demand in this regard among the people.

But the fact that when going to Beijing to take the imperial examination, letters could only be delivered through fellow townsmen in the guild hall shows that there was actually a market for delivering letters in the old city.

However, Wei Guangde did not include the money remittance issue in the post delivery at this time, obviously the time was not ripe.

Officials under the Ming Dynasty often take bribes.

Don't let this cause any disturbance and directly destroy the postal service that benefits the people.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng didn't know that the Ministry of Justice had temporarily blocked his plan to arrest He Xinyin. They might be dissatisfied with him, but it was not a big deal, so he naturally wouldn't keep an eye on it.

However, Zhang Juzheng found out a few days later, after all, there was no response after the note was sent down.

He also had connections in the Ministry of Justice, and soon found out that Yan Qing and Wei Shiliang had stepped in to stop this.

Zhang Juzheng had no intention of fighting with Wei Guangde for this reason. As the prime minister, he naturally had other means.

He was just holding a juren examination, and this person is still slandering him, the prime minister of the dynasty, and the government.

Although this matter has nothing to do with Wei Guangde, he doesn't want to be controlled by Wei Guangde in everything.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng wrote a letter directly to Wang Zhiyuan, the governor of Huguang. Since the Ministry of Justice did not respond, he asked the local authorities to take action directly.

As for the charges, it certainly would not be slandering Zhang Juzheng. In fact, if they wanted to arrest someone, there was no need for Zhang Juzheng to frame the charges, as his subordinates would fabricate them themselves.

In later generations, people could be sent to jail for two years for eating dumplings, let alone this era.

Zhang Juzheng's letter soon reached Wang Zhiyuan. Wang Zhiyuan certainly knew about He Xinyin, who was very popular among the people, and he also knew that this matter was of great importance.

Even though the imperial court banned academies and lectures and issued a clear order, it was still very risky to arrest a very prestigious person in the literati community for this reason.

However, as long as they avoid arresting He Xinyin for giving a lecture, the matter will not be too involved.

But how to fabricate a reason to arrest him.

Wang Zhiyuan quickly looked through the unfinished cases in the past two years, and he actually found a case that seemed to be related.

Download the entry for the first day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the Wanli reign in the Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty:

"In the beginning of Bingwu, Jia Bangqi, a student in Jingzhou, Huguang, secretly taught the evil Taoist Jin Yunfeng, Zeng Guang and others, and fabricated evil books such as "Daqian Qiyunlu", and delivered them to the three chieftains of Yongshun, Baojing and Youyang, and gathered together for chaos. Soon, he was captured by the envoy Peng Guinian. Zeng Guang fled, and the governor reported it to the emperor. The emperor received an imperial decree: Jia Bangqi and others will be judged by the officials, Zeng Guang will be strictly arrested and reported, Peng Guinian will be rewarded with ten taels of silver, and the rest will be recorded by the Ministry of Personnel for employment."

In fact, Wang Zhiyuan could see that Zeng Guang was most likely a member of the White Lotus Sect. Although the Mongolian White Lotus Sect had been suppressed, the sect members were still rampant in the Ming Dynasty.

This case was actually very simple. Jia Bangqi, a student from Jingzhou Prefecture in Huguang, was bored and met a fortune teller named Jin Yunfeng on the roadside.

Later, through the introduction of Jin Yunfeng, Jia Bangqi visited the "master" Zeng Guang.

In the poor mountainous area of ​​western Hunan at that time, Zeng Guang had some "supernatural powers". In addition to divination, he also knew a little about medicine. He often cured diseases and saved lives, and was very popular.

Zeng Guang also had another identity, spreading the White Lotus Sect and deceiving believers into plotting a rebellion.

After a while, Jia Bangqi was tricked by Zeng Guang into joining the pirate ship and became the backbone of their team. (End of this chapter)