prosperous age

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

After listening to the military strategy at the Ministry of War, Wei Guangde also had a conversation with several generals.

It can be said that since he took over the Ministry of War, all the generals who have been given important positions by the military have had close ties with him.

However, the two commanders selected by the Ministry of War for the northern and southern routes, Liu Ting and Deng Zilong, were both from Jiangxi.

The navy was almost entirely a military force created by Wei Guangde.

If Wei Guangde hadn't intervened, these naval forces would still be operating under orders in the coastal garrisons.

As for the commanders of the northern and southern armies, Qi Jiguang was appointed directly.

The imperial court, fearing setbacks in the eastern expedition, mobilized Dong Yiyuan's new army camp to Tianjin, ready to cross the sea to provide assistance at any time.

It can be said that Wei Guangde had considered everything that needed to be considered; the rest was up to the generals to perform on the battlefield.

After having lunch at the Ministry of War, Wei Guangde saw that it was still early, so he decided to go back to his residence to rest for an hour before returning to the cabinet to take up his duties.

When Wei Guangde arrived at the door of the duty room, he saw that the Director of the Agricultural Affairs Department was already waiting there.

Although Wei Guangde was not there, this time Lu Bu did not have anyone wait outside the door, but instead let him sit down and rest in the outer hall, and even brewed a pot of tea there.

"Grand Secretary Wei, the Agricultural Promotion Department has encountered some obstacles in promoting new products, and has come to consult you."

The doctor bowed and said...

"Sit down and talk. There's no need to be polite. We're all working for the court."

Wei Guangde waved his hand, and instead of taking the seat of honor, he sat down next to him.

Lu Bu quickly served tea. Wei Guangde picked up the cup, took a sip, and then put it down before asking, "What happened? Tell me in detail."

"When the Jiangxi Bureau of the Agricultural Promotion Department went to the countryside, they unexpectedly discovered that a novel crop called chili peppers was being grown in large quantities locally."

This plant has a drooping stalk, and the fruit is long and finger-shaped with a tapering tip that is often curved. It is green when immature and turns red, orange, or purplish-red when ripe, and has a spicy taste.

It is said that local farmers have been growing and consuming this plant for several years without finding any toxic substances.

I later consulted a traditional Chinese medicine doctor and learned that this plant is not only non-toxic but also has medicinal uses. Its fruit is pungent and hot in nature, and has the effects of warming the middle jiao (spleen and stomach), dispelling cold, regulating qi, and promoting digestion. It can be used to treat symptoms such as stomach cold, qi stagnation, and vomiting.

The doctor talked at length to Wei Guangde about how the Agricultural Bureau had discovered this novel crop, chili peppers. He even added, "It is said that this plant originated overseas and was originally planted by high-ranking officials and nobles as ornamental plants because of its bright red fruit."

However, after its nutritional value was discovered, farmers in Jiangxi began to cultivate and sell it in large quantities, as it is truly an excellent product for relieving heat and dispelling cold.

The Agricultural Promotion Bureau plans to promote this program in all provinces across the country, especially in the Northwest and Liaodong regions, where the climate is frigid and such products are in high demand.

Wei Guangde listened quietly without saying a word.

To be honest, the job of the Agricultural Promotion Office is not easy, because this department has a great influence, but the results are slow.

Even if a new crop is discovered, it takes two to three years to cultivate it, determine its yield, planting season, and growth habits, and then promote it.

It's optimistic to expect results in two or three years; often, it may take three to five years to see any effect.

For example, the cultivation of sweet potatoes and potatoes in Liaodong is not something that farmers are used to or familiar with. If the agricultural authorities do not conduct repeated trials beforehand to determine the planting cycle, it can easily affect the growth of other crops during their growth cycle.

After all, the north mainly grows wheat and beans, but some fertile land can be used to grow rice.

Plants have growth cycles, and if not handled properly, it may be impossible to achieve both goals simultaneously.

In this situation, it basically indicates that the planting has failed.

Wei Guangde, however, valued the Liaodong region highly. After all, it was known as the Black Soil Region, and its soil was fertile. If managed properly, it was not much different from the granaries of Jiangnan.

"I know about the chili peppers you mentioned."

After Wei Guangde and the others finished speaking and recounted all the credit they had to give, Wei Guangde finally spoke up, saying, "In Jiangxi, I should have been the one who had people plant this plant. In fact, the earliest farmers to plant chili peppers were probably the tenants of my household."

As soon as Wei Guangde finished speaking, he saw the person in charge looking terrified, so he smiled and waved his hand, saying, "However, I was only thinking about satisfying my appetite and forgot that I could promote this product."

Although it can't be used as a staple food, it's still quite good as a condiment.

Hearing Wei Guangde say this, the official's expression softened slightly.

"By the way, that thing has been cultivated for a long time, so its growth habits should be well understood by now. What problems would there be with its promotion?"

Wei Guangde asked again, puzzled.

The chili peppers he eats are grown on land reserved at home. The growth cycle of chili peppers is not short, and now that land is basically unsuitable for growing wheat.

"What Grand Secretary Wei said is absolutely right. This is indeed a top-quality seasoning."

The official immediately continued Wei Guangde's words, saying, "This crop has a relatively long growing cycle. The Jiangxi Agricultural Promotion Office has already recruited experienced local farmers to study crop rotation between chili peppers and wheat."

However, after we promoted the chili peppers, local governments believed they would negatively impact rice and wheat cultivation, so they were unwilling to accept them.

Finally, the person in charge explained their purpose.

Upon discovering a new crop, one would naturally want to try planting it in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, both north and south. However, since Jiangxi already had experience in cultivating it, this step could be skipped.

However, during its promotion in the north, it encountered resistance from local officials and gentry, and the work could not proceed.

Wei Guangde realized that if he hadn't been knowledgeable about chili peppers, he probably would have been fooled by the Agricultural Bureau this time.

Local areas naturally valued the cultivation of rice and wheat, as they were staple foods and the basis of the imperial court's tax revenue.

The saying "without agriculture, there is no stability" actually refers to grain production.

Chili peppers are just a seasoning; they can't be widely promoted.

This was the intention of the local government, but for the Agricultural Promotion Office, this idea was actually hindering their work.

Ultimately, the annual inspections conducted by the Agricultural Promotion Bureau focused on the achievements in discovering new crops and the number of new crops promoted for planting. These were simply work performance indicators that directly impacted the promotion of officials within the bureau.

Local authorities were not happy about it, so they naturally turned to the cabinet, hoping that Grand Secretary Wei would issue a cabinet order to various regions to forcibly promote chili pepper cultivation.

In this way, during the year-end evaluation, they can all receive a "good" rating, and after accumulating two rounds of evaluations, they will be promoted.

After all, if their performance evaluations are good, they can be promoted; this is a rule set by the imperial court.

To his disappointment, Wei Guangde probably knew more about chili peppers than he did.

The idea of ​​pressuring local governments through the cabinet to vigorously promote planting is clearly unworkable and only fools laymen.

At this moment, the person in charge was already sweating profusely.

In fact, this kind of situation is quite common when the imperial court handles affairs.

For their own benefit, various government departments often disregard the overall situation and only care about themselves, ignoring others.

Towards superiors, they resorted to deception to obtain government orders.

Then, when they went down to the local level, even if the local government knew something was wrong, they were afraid of their superiors and dared not refute it.

Wei Guangde stared at the person in charge and laughed, "I remember I was the one who recommended you to the Agricultural Promotion Office. What, you're already thinking about a promotion after only five years?"

Wei Guangde's expression was calm, showing no sign of displeasure.

"This humble official was foolish; please punish me, Your Excellency."

The person in charge was very straightforward and immediately admitted his mistake.

"When I put you in charge of the Agricultural Promotion Office, I told you that the Agricultural Promotion Office does not need to require the local areas to plant according to your ideas. You only need to plant those new crops in the official fields reserved in various places."

Seeing the value of these new crops, the gentry and farmers naturally chose to follow suit and plant them.

You've got the direction wrong. It's not about issuing orders for them to plant certain crops, but about using the land allocated to you by the court to grow those crops and then selling them at high prices to make money. As I've said before, the proceeds from those sales will be used to supplement the insufficient funds of the Agricultural Promotion Office.

As for what you're thinking, I know you're worried about it affecting your performance evaluation.

In fact, the promotion of ordinary officials does indeed depend on their performance evaluation results.

But in the capital, whether you handle official business well or not is not determined by the capital's evaluation system. I can promote you just by saying you are capable.

Even if the capital inspection results in a lower rating from both the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel, I can still get them to change it to higher.

Wei Guangde's words this time were rather harsh and explicit.

To be honest, there are very few officials in the central government willing to work in agriculture.

Therefore, Wei Guangde was really unwilling to let him leave and take up another position.

Otherwise, I would have to choose someone else myself.

During the late Ming Dynasty, only Xu Guangqi emerged, and the agricultural technology he developed ultimately benefited the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

"This humble official knows he was wrong."

The person in charge was now filled with fear and trepidation, bowing his head and repeatedly admitting his mistakes.

“You’ve been in this position for five years, almost six, so some of your thoughts are reasonable.”

Wei Guangde looked at him and said, "I will put in a good word and promote you from a sixth-rank official to a fifth-rank assistant director before the end of the year, but you will still be in charge of the Agricultural Promotion Department."

"You've done well. After nine years of service, I'll appoint you as a senior official in the Agricultural Promotion Department, the same rank as the Censorate."

As the core institution in charge of finance among the six ministries of the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Revenue was a key department for maintaining the economic lifeline of the country.

Under the centralized system, the Ministry of Revenue not only undertook basic functions such as tax collection, household registration management, and canal transport scheduling, but also deeply participated in the implementation of national strategies. From the grain and salary guarantee during the Yongle Emperor's relocation of the capital to the tax and labor service adjustments during the Wanli Emperor's reforms, the operation of the Ministry of Revenue was directly related to the rise and fall of the dynasty.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Revenue was divided into thirteen administrative offices, corresponding to the thirteen provinces of the country, forming a vertical management system of "governing by province".

Each department was headed by a fifth-rank official, a fifth-rank assistant official, and a sixth-rank official, with lower-ranking positions such as supervisor, inspector, and clerk.

In addition to the thirteen Qingli Offices that everyone is familiar with, there were also the Governor-General's Granary Office, the Customs and Tax Office, and the nominal Precious Paper Bureau, among other offices.

Among these government offices, the Thirteenth Bureau of Officials was undoubtedly the most powerful among all the departments under the Ministry of Revenue, both in terms of the rank of its officials and its actual authority.

Among the thirteen offices of the Ministry of Personnel, the power varied greatly because they also managed miscellaneous matters of the court.

Wei Guangde said he planned to upgrade the Agricultural Promotion Office to a fifth-rank official position, which meant he intended to treat this office as a top-level, crucial department of the Ministry of Revenue.

Okay, this pancake is actually quite delicious.

why?
The reason the person in charge wanted to be transferred was because he thought there was no hope of promotion.

However, if the official rank of the government office could be raised, then his position as the person in charge would naturally rise accordingly.

According to what Grand Secretary Wei said, he could be guaranteed to become a fifth-rank official after nine years of examinations, so what position would he even consider transferring to?
Moreover, although the profits from the Agricultural Promotion Bureau were not particularly high, they were still considerable.

Putting aside everything else, the privileges Wei Guangde granted them were the output of the official land allocated to each province, which was the source of income for the Agricultural Promotion Office.

After production and sales, the proceeds all go towards their office expenses.

How much farmland did the Agricultural Promotion Bureau allocate from each province?

There are thousands of acres of land of all kinds, including good land and bad land, flat land and mountainous land, which are very diverse and cover a wide range.

In fact, in recent years, as the business has developed, the person in charge has been able to receive this off-the-books income every year in addition to the extra subsidies from the Ministry of Revenue, thanks to his proper management.

It's unknown how much can be collected locally, but the Agricultural Promotion Office in the capital receives more than two thousand taels of silver from the lower levels every year.

It should be noted that the Agricultural Promotion Office actually had very few officials with official ranks, so all that operating expenses were simply spent on finding some excuse.

"I will certainly do my best to follow Your Excellency's instructions and thoroughly understand the planting habits of the new crop in each province so that farmers in all regions can obtain enough seeds for planting if they wish."

The person in charge hurriedly expressed their opinion.

"You see, I have never urged you to achieve anything."

They only require reports two or three times a year on the planting status of key crops, as well as information on the adaptability of new crops in Liaodong and Northwest China.

Wei Guangde continued.

"Yes, yes, it was my ignorance that caused you to misunderstand my esteemed intentions."

"I will certainly repent and reform myself upon my departure and work diligently."

"The focus is still on Liaodong, which is the main development direction of the imperial court in the next few years and requires a large amount of agricultural output, especially the Nurgan region."

Once the imperial court decides to reinstate the local garrison, supplies and provisions will mainly rely on Liaodong for reinforcement.

"We can't possibly provide massive amounts of aid to Nurgan when Liaodong is already struggling to meet its own needs."

Wei Guangde once again highlighted the key area for the Agricultural Promotion Office, which was Liaodong.

Increased agricultural production in Liaodong is related to the cabinet's subsequent plans.

Having said that, it seems pretty much the case.

Just then, Lu Bu entered from outside the door, carrying several memorials in his hands, his expression somewhat strange.

"It was delivered by an eunuch from the Qianqing Palace, who said it was personally approved by His Majesty."

Lu Bu whispered his report to Wei Guangde.

"Your Excellency is very busy, so I must take my leave now."

The person in charge hurriedly got up and asked to take his leave.

"Go back and work hard, don't ruin your future."

Wei Guangde still offered a reminder.

"Your humble servant understands."

After everyone left, Wei Guangde picked up the memorial handed to him by Lu Bu and began to read it.

However, at this moment, Wei Guangde was actually still thinking about the Ministry of Revenue.

Well, Wei Guangde had never been involved with the Ministry of Revenue before, so he didn't know much about it.

As for what Zhang Xueyan said, Wei Guangde could only listen to half of it and dared not believe it completely.

However, what Wei Guangde heard after Wei Shiliang went to the Ministry of Revenue surprised him.

The Ministry of Revenue had problems with its staffing structure, which was inherently flawed.

Although there are thirteen bureaus of officials, each bureau only has a few clerks in charge of actual work.

Ultimately, all of the Ming Dynasty's financial affairs were managed by only a few dozen people.

In Wei Shiliang's words, the Ming Dynasty paid tens of millions of shi of grain tax every year, and each head of the Ministry of Revenue had to verify the collection and use of hundreds of thousands of shi. "The documents of money and grain sent by various provinces were piled up like mountains, and the verification and checking often required working through the night."

This workload leads officials to prioritize avoiding mistakes over taking action.

The Ministry of Revenue was actually one of the more populous departments among the Six Ministries, but it was clearly still insufficient.

Wei Shiliang even compared it to the Song Dynasty, noting that after the Three Departments were merged into the Ministry of Revenue, the number of officials exceeded three hundred, far surpassing the one hundred-person scale of the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Revenue. (End of Chapter)