prosperous age

“I never expected the Jiangnan Censor to be so depraved.

Now that the Censorate has discovered it, is there any way to solve it?"

After reading the secret document, Zhang Juzheng frowned and said.

Zhang Juzheng actually attached great importance to the Kedao, not only because they were mad dogs, but also because their existence was like a gun pointing to the heads of court officials at all times. As long as they behaved slightly out of line, they would be caught and impeached to death.

But now we know that local inspectors have begun to have connections with local officials and gentry, which naturally has great disadvantages.

"The root of the problem lies with the Ministry of Personnel, which made mistakes in the appointment and removal of officials."

It was actually unfair for Zhang Juzheng to put the blame on the Censorate.

After all, the provincial inspectors and censors are replaced regularly, and so are the officials. In fact, if they are replaced every two or three years, and the places they are replaced to are not in the same province, it would be relatively rare to have such regular connections.

After all, officials and censors were constantly changing. Even if one was very good at networking, it was impossible to gain the trust of others in just one or two years and then join forces to cause trouble.

In fact, the Ministry of Personnel was somewhat negligent in supervising the transfer of officials. They accepted benefits from those below them, either for money or because of personal connections, so many of the promotions were to nearby officials. As a result, the officials gradually became in collusion with the local gentry.

Of course, this is not a problem of the Ministry of Personnel under the leadership of Zhang Juzheng, but a practice that has been formed a hundred years ago. The current Ministry of Personnel is only operating according to some of the previous rules.

However, Wei Guangde pointed out that it actually depends on whether Zhang Juzheng is willing to make changes and restore the situation at the beginning of the dynasty, where officials were transferred across provinces.

"I will discuss this matter with Ru Guan later and find a solution."

Zhang Juzheng thought for a moment and did not agree to the matter immediately. Instead, he chose to discuss it with Wang Guoguang first and listen to his opinion.

The Ministry of Personnel was, after all, under his management, and agreeing to it rashly was somewhat an overstepping of his authority.

Normally, this is just a trivial matter, but if it gets out, it would confirm the accusation that Zhang Juzheng is abusing his power.

"Ren Zhi first came to me about this matter. The main reason was that the Censorate had come up with a solution after discussion, but they were a little worried."

Wei Guangde saw that the time was ripe, so he continued.

However, he suddenly stopped talking before he finished speaking.

Zhang Juzheng was listening attentively when Wei Guangde suddenly shut up. He looked over unconsciously.

Under Zhang Juzheng's gaze, Wei Guangde pretended to be very hesitant and conflicted. After a while, he whispered, "The Censorate intends to change the Nanjing Censorate's Assistant Censor-in-Chief. If the court can transfer a highly respected and impartial official to serve as Assistant Censor-in-Chief, I think the censors of the provinces south and north of the Yangtze River, and even the local officials, will be cautious."

When Zhang Juzheng heard this, his face showed no joy or sadness. He knew that the candidate for the position of Chief Censor might be the key, and that was also the reason why the Censorate did not say it directly in the cabinet, but instead sent Wei Guangde to test it first.

Zhang Juzheng became an official more than ten years earlier than Wei Guangde. Both believed that he was in charge of the court in the late Jiajing period. In fact, the most complicated period of the Jiajing period was around the 20th year of Jiajing, until the Gengxu Rebellion.

During these ten years, Emperor Jiajing changed his empress, was almost strangled to death, and for the first time raised the butcher knife against the prime minister. Such a situation had not been seen in the Ming Dynasty for more than a hundred years.

In addition, the Great Ceremony Controversy made him extremely sensitive to imperial power.

It was also from this time that Emperor Jiajing suddenly retreated into the deep palace and never came out again.

Wei Guangde had not experienced all this, but Zhang Juzheng had experienced it personally. Before Wei Guangde mentioned the candidates for the Censorate, Zhang Juzheng actually had some guesses in his mind.

He disliked this person, and he also had a strong deterrent effect on all officials. Looking at the court, how many people could still be like him?

Hai Rui is really a weirdo.

Although he was a juren, he made the court shudder at the mention of him.

His persistence also enabled him to step up from a ninth-rank teacher to the imperial court of the Ming Dynasty and become a person close to the core of power.

Zhang Juzheng disliked him because of his stubborn character, and he was also deeply wary of him because of his reputation in the court and the country.

"Shan Dai, does the Censorate think that no one else can do the job well except him?"

Zhang Juzheng did not hide in front of Wei Guangde and asked directly.

"Except for Lord Hai, the Censorate does not believe that anyone can intimidate the officials in Jiangnan. He is the one who dared to impeach even the late emperor."

Wei Guangde smiled bitterly and said, "Although he is too rigid, he still supports the new policy."

Wei Guangde knew about Hai Rui's recent situation. His reputation was so great that it was impossible to hide it.

Hai Rui was relatively supportive of Zhang Juzheng's performance evaluation system and land survey. Although he had some objections to the cabinet exercising the emperor's power and controlling the six departments, he did so out of consideration for the balance of power in the court.

Originally, the relationship was one of mutual restraint. The Six Ministries were institutions used by the Emperor to control the Cabinet. But now, they were being monitored by the Cabinet. Naturally, this was not supported by a stubborn person like Hai Rui.

Of course, Hai Rui was obviously inclined to support Gao Gong in educational reform, that is, to ban lectures, but opposed Zhang Juzheng's decision to ban academies.

Hai Rui was really ruthless towards officials. The only time he seemed to be merciful was when he was somewhat indecisive in the case of Xu Jie.

But the root of this problem actually lies with Gao Gong.

Gao Gong deliberately put him in the position of Yingtian Governor in order to target Xu Jie. It can be said that Hai Rui chose to take the middle road without waiting or relying on others, which offended both Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, and finally he had no choice but to retire.

"To implement the new policy, Jiangnan must put the knife to the ground again."

Wei Guangde suddenly mentioned the new policy, in fact, he was also reminding Zhang Juzheng that although he and Hai Rui did not get along, his attitude towards surveying land could ensure the implementation of this policy in the provinces of Jiangnan.

"Let me think about it."

Zhang Juzheng did not directly reject it, but just said something perfunctorily.

This is the time to test Zhang Juzheng. Is reform more important, or is personal preference more important?

“Actually, I don’t like him either, he’s too dangerous.

However, when it comes to the rectification of the bureaucracy, it seems that he is the most suitable candidate. "

Before ending the topic, Wei Guangde still said something.

He really didn't like people like Hai Rui. A bomb that was difficult to control and could get out of control at any time would be a big trouble for people like them.

If it is a chaotic world, the more chaotic it is, the better it is for those who want to seize power.

But in the present moment, stability naturally takes precedence over everything else, and everything else can be sacrificed.

Therefore, at the beginning, the cabinet chose to sacrifice Hai Rui to ensure the stability of the officialdom in Jiangnan.

In the following two days, Zhang Juzheng did not mention Hai Rui to Wei Guangde. However, that afternoon after the conversation, he summoned the Minister of Personnel Wang Guoguang to the Prime Minister's duty room.

Wei Guangde was concentrating on handling official business in the cabinet duty room, but Shen Shixing, who was temporarily pulled into the cabinet, was in a bad situation.

For many consecutive days, he traveled to various farms outside Beijing.

Most of the farms outside Beijing were originally awarded by Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, to meritorious nobles.

After hundreds of years of mergers and acquisitions, the fields have increased countless times and most of them are connected into one piece.

Yes, in order to facilitate management, the managers under the noble families often took action here and annexed the people's land in various ways.

Although they agreed to the land survey, the nobles also hinted to the managers of the farms below that they should conceal as much information as possible. In any case, if they tried every means to survey less land, it would cause a lot of trouble.

No one dared to offend Shuntian Prefecture, so when the land survey encountered obstacles, they could only report to the cabinet.

"Lord Wei, there is something I think our cabinet needs to discuss first and come up with a charter."

As the court was about to be dismissed that day, the Prime Minister had not yet been summoned to his duty room, so Shen Shixing came in from outside to look for him.

"Rumo, what happened?"

Wei Guangde looked up at him happily, then walked around the desk, pulled him to sit aside, and Lubu brought him tea at the right time.

Shen Shixing picked up the tea and took a sip. After all, the weather was cold and Lubu served him hot tea.

As the tea took a sip, Shen Shixing's face turned pale. He didn't know whether to spit it out or drink it.

'Don't be in a hurry, take your time.'

Wei Guangde found it funny and had to say it.

After a while, Shen Shixing drank the tea and said to Wei Guangde, "Old Wei, do you know how to deal with the land survey?"

In fact, when Shen Shixing came in, Wei Guangde guessed that Shen Shixing had gone to the farm of some nobleman and was angry.

Maybe this is not the first time, but it is because he has encountered similar situations many times, which is why this happened.

"Tell me, what happened today?"

Wei Guangde put away his smile and asked seriously. Land survey is a major event in the country, and Wei Guangde dare not neglect it.

If the nobles and relatives really caused trouble inside, Wei Guangde wouldn't mind arguing with them.

"In the past few days, I have visited the farms of several nobles. Do you know what I saw?"

Shen Shixing did not answer, but asked instead.

"what?"

Wei Guangde had no choice but to ask.

"They actually destroyed the farmland. They would rather tear up the cultivated land and report it as wasteland to avoid land survey."

Shen Shixing was very excited and started to speak.

After hearing what Shen Shixing said, Wei Guangde understood.

They would rather suffer a short pain than a long one. They find ways to turn good farmland into wasteland. Even if the harvest is poor for two years, they can just spend two years to reclaim the land again as long as the land survey is over.

After all, once the land is surveyed, it means that the person is on the official list, and there will be no way to evade taxes.

"How did you tell the officers to deal with these wastelands?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"Let them continue to do the survey, but..."

Shen Shixing hesitated and did not continue speaking. Instead, he said, "Lord Wei, I think this trend must not be allowed to grow. Otherwise, I don't know how many fields have been destroyed by these people in the past two years."

“This is a bit tricky.”

Wei Guangde certainly knew that this trend should not be allowed to continue, but he was really puzzled by the fact that these people would rather destroy the land than survey it.

Where did this wasteland come from in the suburbs of Beijing?

"Let's go. Time is running out. We should first inform the Prime Minister and see what he thinks."

Wei Guangde stood up, said something to Shen Shixing, then took him out of the duty room and walked straight towards Zhang Juzheng.

As I approached the duty room, I heard Zhang Juzheng instructing the clerks to go to each room to invite people.

Wei Guangde pointed at Zhang Siwei and walked straight in with Shen Shixing.

"Shandai, Rumo, you're here so soon?"

As soon as he gave the order, two cabinet ministers came together. Zhang Juzheng was surprised for a moment, but he immediately understood what was going on.

"Wait for Ziwei to come over and talk together."

Wei Guangde sat in his seat familiarly and said with a smile.

Zhang Juzheng looked at Shen Shixing and asked in a low voice, "Is it because of the land reclamation?"

Shen Shixing nodded, which was considered as his agreement.

Soon, Zhang Siwei came over, and Shen Shixing described in detail what he had encountered in the past few days.

"Rumo, what do you think about this?"

Zhang Juzheng frowned slightly and asked Shen Shixing.

After all, he was present and should have the most say.

"I asked the officials to survey the wasteland so that we could consider how to rate the land."

Shen Shixing answered immediately.

"Rumo, do you think these fields should be upper fields or middle fields?"

Zhang Siwei interrupted and asked.

"Most of them are upper fields. If they are destroyed, it will take at least two years to restore them to cultivation."

Shen Shixing said with some heartache.

He is from Fujian, where farmland is precious. It would be a lie to say he didn't feel sorry for people destroying the farmland now.

“If we forcefully classify and tax these fields, I’m afraid someone will take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble.”

Although Zhang Juzheng understood the situation, it was difficult to know how to deal with it.

At least for now, these fields seem to be wasteland.

For those people, even if they arrived at the scene, they would lie with their eyes open and conclude that it was a wasteland.

"Shandai, do you have any solution?"

This kind of land destruction did not occur during the land survey in Fujian. It was a new problem and Zhang Juzheng had no proper solution for the time being.

However, this trend cannot be allowed to continue, and he and even the cabinet must make a decision as soon as possible.

Otherwise, if everyone follows suit, there will be no harvest in the next two years.

The Ming Dynasty was based on agriculture, and agriculture was the foundation of its rule, so the importance of food was evident.

"Do you have title deeds for those wastelands?"

Wei Guangde had a calm smile on his face and looked at Shen Shixing and asked.

"Have."

Shen Shixing said.

"Is there any indication on the title deed?"

Wei Guangde continued to ask.

"Most of them are written as wasteland, in order to understate the purchase price and pay less tax to the government."

Shen Shixing was also helpless. He had thought about looking at the land deed a long time ago and had even looked through the fish scale book.

Most of these fields were reclaimed after the Yongle period, when the capital was relocated, the population increased dramatically, and the demand for food increased.

Therefore, the records in the fish scale book, which mainly come from the Hongwu period, are not detailed enough.

"I heard that the market price of high-quality farmland in the suburbs of Beijing is about 20 taels, and low-quality farmland is 8 or 9 taels. What is the price of wasteland?"

Wei Guangde asked with a smile.

"Two or three taels is enough, Elder Wei, what do you mean?"

Shen Shixing replied, and suddenly realized something after tax, and quickly asked.

“Since they don’t value that piece of land, I’ll order Shuntian Prefecture to forcibly confiscate the wasteland at two taels of silver per mu and hire people to reclaim it.

They had no choice but to agree to this matter.

They think they are right to leave the wasteland uncultivated. Our Ming Dynasty is based on agriculture and will never allow such a situation to occur.

If they didn't reclaim the wasteland, the imperial court would do it.

Two taels of silver, and it takes two years to cultivate it, and the cost is only four or five taels of silver. When the time comes, if you sell it directly for fifteen or twenty taels, it will also be a big profit."

Wei Guangde smiled.

In this way, the imperial court spent money and effort to reclaim wasteland, and who could say it was wrong?

If those people dare to destroy the fields, we will give them a lesson.

After hearing Wei Guangde's words, Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing had interesting expressions on their faces, not knowing whether to agree or disagree, while Zhang Juzheng lowered his head to think.

The key here is that forced land acquisition is easy to be criticized.

"Call the nine ministers to discuss this matter."

Zhang Juzheng finally spoke. (End of this chapter)