prosperous age

Under the current circumstances, Wei Guangde would naturally not consider adopting the coordination method of later generations, that is, comprehensive planning, allowing wealthy regions to subsidize poor regions.

Like later generations, the gap between the rich and the poor in the Ming Dynasty was clear. Generally speaking, the south was richer than the north, and the east was richer than the west. This seems to have become a Chinese tradition.

In later generations, technology developed rapidly and information exchange became convenient, so it was possible to achieve nationwide coordination and allocate more resources to poor areas.

Under the current environment in the Ming Dynasty, it is already good enough to be able to operate welfare benefits locally.

At the regular cabinet meeting before adjourning in the afternoon, Wei Guangde told Zhang Juzheng and other cabinet ministers the content of his conversation with the director of the Imperial Medical Service that morning.

"Rebuild local benefit pharmacies and impose taxes and subsidies on medical officers' pharmacies"

Zhang Juzheng frowned and thought about other things. He certainly understood Wei Guangde's plan, but he was a little curious why Wei Guangde suddenly became concerned about the affairs of the Imperial Hospital.

Zhang Juzheng was not in a position to ask, but Zhang Siwei could, so out of curiosity, he asked, "Why did the Deputy Minister suddenly think of rebuilding the local Huimin Pharmacy? It seems to have been abandoned for decades."

“Hui Min Pharmacy is just like its name, Hui Min. The fact that it has been passed down from the Song Dynasty to the present day speaks for itself.

Since it benefits the people, the court should promote and develop it.

Previously, the imperial court was unable to take this into consideration due to financial constraints, but I don’t think that means we can ignore it.

So, I thought about it for a long time these two days and finally came up with a solution to the silver and money problem.

Although it is not very good, at least it can help poor people to have access to medical care.”

Wei Guangde explained.

"It's a bit like robbing the rich to help the poor. I wonder why the deputy assistant would think of this?"

Zhang Siwei smiled.

His family was large and his business was great, so naturally he didn't care about that little expense. In fact, the ones harmed by Wei Guangde's policy were not the rich, but the ordinary middle and lower class people of the Ming Dynasty. It only took care of the lowest class people.

After all, there are fewer rich people, but the taxes are the same.

They are not rich, but they can meet their basic needs in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, and the tax increase is aimed at them.

Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Siwei and said with a smile, “I didn’t pay attention to it before, but I heard a miracle doctor say that the people were sick but had no access to medical treatment due to poverty.

Relying solely on free medical treatment from doctors, we are unable to purchase medicinal materials, so we know that the local Huimin Pharmacy has declined. "

Wei Guangde did not hide the intention of Li Shizhen coming to the capital. If they were curious, they could find out the news, so he told it frankly.

"A miracle doctor? Which miracle doctor is it?"

Zhang Juzheng asked curiously.

Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Juzheng and suddenly had a guess in his mind. Could it be that Zhang Juzheng has already realized that he is feeling a little unwell?

Although we don't know when Zhang Juzheng died, he should have been gone very long ago, otherwise the direction of the Wanli dynasty would not have changed so quickly.

It should be said that Zhang Juzheng's death was somewhat sudden, so sudden that all his arrangements were not completed before his death.

Most Ming Dynasty officials thought that he was just sick due to overwork and needed rest, but they never thought that he would just die.

You know, Xu Jie, who was more than 20 years older than Zhang Juzheng, was still alive and well for many years.

When Zhang Juzheng asked about it, Wei Guangde said, "It turned out that the chief judge of the Imperial Hospital, Li Shizhen, compiled a medical book while traveling all over the country, but he had no money to print it after the book was completed.

There happened to be a bookstore near my house, so someone came to me and I agreed to help him print the books.

He came to the capital this time just for this matter.

After all, it is a medical book, so he needs to proofread it personally."

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, Zhang Siwei exclaimed, "So it's him, he really deserves the title of miracle doctor.

I heard that he traveled around and treated many patients with his medical skills. He was very famous because he often gave free medical treatment and medicine. "

"That's him."

Wei Guangde said with a smile.

"In that case, let's wait for the Imperial Hospital to list the rules and then discuss this matter with the Ministry of Rites."

Zhang Juzheng expressed his position and did not object to this matter.

After all, after Wei Guangde raised the problem, he found a solution, although it was not a safe one.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty court has always been very concerned about tax increases.

Of course, local governments will not do that. If they are short of money, they can simply impose miscellaneous taxes to solve the problem. They don’t even need to report to the court. This is their autonomy.

But these good days are coming to an end soon. After the land survey and local commercial tax collection system are improved, Wei Guangde will begin to solve the problem of chaotic local miscellaneous taxes.

He would no longer grant such important powers directly to local officials, causing the court to completely lose control of this income.

Drawing on the model of national and local taxes in later generations, the Ming Dynasty's finances would eventually reach this point, clarifying the types of local taxes and incorporating them directly into the Single Whip System.

If a local area wants to levy new taxes, it must be reported to the court for approval, otherwise it will be prohibited from being collected.

However, these things are quite unconventional, and Wei Guangde would never say them out loud unless the time was right.

After the court session was over, Wei Guangde took a sedan chair and went directly to Lao Kan's residence in the capital.

Today, Zhang Ke came to the capital from Jiangxi. Wei Guangde was in the cabinet, so it was naturally inconvenient for him to leave and go to greet him. So he asked his fellow villager Kan to go.

Zhang Ke no longer had a place to live in the capital, so he could only live here temporarily during this period of time and move there after finding a suitable mansion.

Wei Guangde had some courtyards in the capital, but none of them were suitable for Zhang Ke to live in.

After all, he came to Beijing this time to serve as the Minister of War, a third-rank official of the imperial court. It would be inappropriate if he lived in a small courtyard.

After seeing Zhang Ke and exchanging some greetings, Lao Kan had someone bring up the prepared wine and food.

This is a welcoming drink, so of course we have to drink to our heart's content.

"Mr. Tan's health has been up and down recently. You will first serve as the Right Vice Minister in the Ministry of War and help him handle government affairs."

Holding the wine glass, Wei Guangde said to Zhang Ke beside him.

The original assistant minister had already been sent abroad. According to Zhang Juzheng's original plan, the assistant minister and the governors-general of various places would be exchanged with each other, so that the court would always have chief officials who could be sent abroad at any time.

Zhang Ke once served in Zhejiang military command, so he had this experience and naturally did not need to make up for it.

"So how did Brother Sansheng arrange it?"

Zhang Ke asked in a low voice.

Zeng Shengwu and Zhang Ke also knew each other. They had become acquainted with each other through Wei Guangde when they took the imperial examination.

Now, it was assumed that Zeng Shengwu's position as the Minister of War might be replaced, so Zhang Ke was curious about what Wei Guangde was planning.

Hearing this, Wei Guangde was silent for a moment before he said, "You can first transfer him to Nanjing and promote him to Shangshu. As for the capital, when he comes back, you can let him manage the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Personnel. The specific arrangement needs to be considered later.

If Shuda is still unwilling to give up, then he can be transferred to Xuanda or Yansui as the governor, so that he can gain experience in commanding the Northern Army."

To be honest, Wei Guangde really had a hard time making arrangements for Zeng Shengwu.

However, because of his opinion on Zhang Juzheng's health, Wei Guangde planned to move him south first and let him go to Nanjing to serve as an official and become a second-rank minister.

If Zhang Juzheng could survive until that time and be transferred back to the capital, he could be supported to take the position of head of the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Personnel.

Wei Guangde absolutely disagreed with Zeng Xingwu taking charge of the Ministry of War. His response to the last battle in Liaodong was very unfavorable, which made Wei Guangde give up the idea of ​​using him to lead the army.

He was sent to the Ministry of War earlier because Zeng Xingwu had experience in suppressing rebellions when he was the governor of Sichuan, so Wei Guangde thought he already had the ability to command the military.

Obviously, the differences between the north and the south are too great.

Therefore, if Zhang Juzheng insisted on appointing Zeng Shengwu to head the Ministry of War, Wei Guangde would first ask to transfer Zeng Shengwu to Xuanda to familiarize himself with the combat of the Northern Army, and then seek promotion.

After all, Wei Guangde is just waiting now, waiting for Zhang Juzheng to die and then he will have the final say on everything.

Zhang Juzheng had a good reputation in later generations, so there was no need for him to have anything to do with a dying person.

If you lose the fight, you lose everything.

Even if I win the fight, I'm afraid I'll be cursed by future generations.

In particular, if the reforms during the Wanli period failed, would the failure be attributed to him?

As far as I am concerned, he also supports reform, but he just has more concerns sometimes.

The time traveler is courageous and can talk back to the sky, the earth and the air. He doesn't dare to learn from him, so he learns it back.

He only has one life, and now that he is in his current position, Wei Guangde not only pursues governing the Ming Dynasty well, but also wants to win a good reputation after his death.

Zhang Ke, Lao Kan and others nodded slightly when they heard this.

Of course, they didn't know what Wei Guangde really thought. Only Wei Shiliang's expression changed slightly, but he didn't show it excessively.

After all, he had been in the Ministry of Justice and had long regarded the position of Minister of Justice as something within his grasp.

But the current situation seems that Wei Guangde intends to exchange this position with Zhang Juzheng. How can he be happy about this?

Wei Guangde certainly saw Wei Shiliang's performance.

To be honest, Wei Guangde has a very good impression of Wei Shiliang.

Ever since he entered the cabinet, his fellow villager Wei Shiliang has shown himself to be very obedient to him and has been very close to him.

In fact, Wei Guangde knew very well that Wei Shiliang should have been walking with Zhu Heng earlier.

After all, after Jiangxi officials gradually withdrew from the court, Zhu Heng once became the head of Gan provincial officials, and many people followed his lead.

It was only after he jumped from the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel to the Cabinet that he became the most promising official in Gan Province, and then people including Zhu Heng began to gather around him.

At that time, Zhu Heng was already the Minister of Works, but he was still busy copying the "Yongle Encyclopedia" and did not leave his post in the Hanlin Academy.

Almost all the high-ranking officials from Jiangxi Province in Beijing attended today's welcoming banquet, except Tan Lun, who did not come due to health reasons.

In order to reassure everyone, Wei Guangde smiled and said, "In fact, everyone just needs to work hard in the government office, and I will take care of everything else.

In fact, don't limit yourself to a certain government office. It's common for the six ministries to transfer between each other."

Wei Guangde said this to Wei Shiliang, telling him not to just focus on the Ministry of Justice, there are many other government offices among the six ministries, as long as there are good official vacancies, he will consider them and will naturally fight for those that should be fought for.

However, Wei Guangde knew in his heart that these words were just talk. There were only a few truly powerful positions in the Ming Dynasty court.

Although there are so-called Nine Ministers, the real power actually lies only in the seven powerful government offices including the Six Ministries and the Censorate.

Other yamen are merely channels for transferring official positions.

"We received a document from Qiongzhou this afternoon. Hai Gangfeng has already received the order and will leave for Nanjing soon."

Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Lao Kan immediately spoke up and changed the subject.

"Many people privately discussed the appointment of Hai Rui."

Wei Shiliang spoke at this time.

The Ministry of Justice was definitely the first to oppose Hai Rui's entry into officialdom.

After all, Hai Rui gained his fame mostly by slapping the Ministry of Justice in the face because they were unfair.

Everyone knows that officials protect each other, but this is also the way of the world. For thousands of years, the Chinese people still cannot get rid of it, and it is impossible to get rid of it.

"When Hai Rui was reinstated this time, he mainly focused on the various imperial censors, and didn't need to worry about anything else."

Wei Guangde smiled.

Even the Censorate approved of Hai Rui's appointment. Why should the six ministries care about it? They should just mind their own business.

After hearing what he said, Wei Shiliang stopped talking.

He actually meant well and wanted to give Wei Guangde a reminder.

This matter was first brought up by Lao Kan, and everyone present knew about it.

But since it has been done, there is nothing to say.

At the beginning, they all thought that Zhang Juzheng would not agree.

Seeing this, Zhang Ke smiled and said, "In fact, just do your department's work well and don't worry about anything else.

By the way, Shandai, what is the main job of the Ministry of War now? Now that the world is peaceful, why don't you just manage the payment of military salaries? '

The present is different from the past. There seems to be no wars around, and Mongolia has maintained peace for ten years. Although there are occasional incidents, both sides have restrained themselves tacitly.

"How could the Ministry of War have nothing to do? Take the Northeast for example. There is no hope for the Nurgan City this year. However, I plan to have Xu Qiaoan send a ship to the north to explore and find a sea route to Nurgan City.

If it is possible, the Ministry of Industry will not need to complete the canal so urgently."

Before this, Qi Jiguang had planned to send troops north to build ships near Tuhe River to facilitate the journey north along the Heilongjiang River to reach Nurgan City next year.

But because of the Mongols' disturbance, the soldiers were naturally not sent out, which delayed the matter.

At the same time, it also reminded the imperial court that it was urgent to open up the tributaries of the Liaohe River and the Songhua River if the imperial court really intended to use military force against Nurgan.

However, now that the Ministry of War has prepared the East China Sea Navy, Wei Guangde naturally has a new idea, which is to go north along the coastline and reach Nurgan City by sea.

By stationing troops there, large ships can also enter Heilongjiang directly by sea.

However, for safety reasons, the Songliao Canal still had to be checked by people from the Ministry of Industry to see if it was indeed feasible.

"The sea route is actually not as risky as others say, otherwise the Japanese pirates would not have sailed across the ocean to come to our Ming Dynasty."

Having fought against the Japanese pirates, Zhang Ke was no longer a staunch supporter of maritime bans, but was very supportive of the development of maritime transport.

"The Ministry of War now actually has two things to do: one is to stabilize Burma in the southwest, and the other is to restore the jurisdiction of Nurgan in the northeast. Everything else has regulations.

When you enter the Ministry of War in two days, you can try to get one of the errands. You and Qi Jiguang are acquainted, so you might as well choose Nuergan’s job.”

Wei Guangde smiled.

"The war in Burma is over, and what remains are trivialities, so there is nothing to argue about."

Hearing this, Zhang Ke nodded slightly.

"Also, go to the Ministry of War and help me keep an eye on the news from Burma. According to the time calculation, Yin Yu and the others should be back soon."

Wei Guangde continued. (End of this chapter)