prosperous age

"I think Huang Taiji may not accept the imperial decree."

As the group left the Qianqing Palace, Zhang Siwei shared his thoughts on the way.

After Emperor Wanli expressed his opinion, Zhang Siwei decisively stopped speaking and let Emperor Wanli and Wei Guangde decide the matter.

However, once outside the palace gates, Zhang Siwei repeated what he wanted to say, which was beneficial for establishing his position in the court, at least letting them know that he did not support Wei Guangde's decision as the chief minister.

"Give it a try. After all, this is a rare opportunity. If we can use this to count the population of the Mongol tribes and issue household registration certificates, even if the court has to pay some grain, it won't be a waste. At least we can use this to understand the situation on the grasslands."

Shen Shixing stepped forward to persuade him, saying that Wei Guangde's idea was far-fetched, but it seemed to have a certain possibility in the event of the snow disaster on the grassland.

As for whether the Prince of Shunyi is unwilling or will not accept it, then we'll talk about it later.

In any case, the imperial court has done all it can. If it cannot figure out how many people need relief, then it can only do what it always does and give a few cartloads of grain.

Meanwhile, in the Qianqing Palace, the Wanli Emperor was still sitting on the dragon throne at the head of the main hall.

He stood upright with his hands hanging naturally at his sides.

However, there was also a secret memorial lying nearby, hidden from the emperor's desk.

After Wei Guangde and the others left, he glanced at Zheng Luo's report on the table, then picked up the secret report beside him and read it carefully.

The secret report came from the Eastern Depot. Although Zhang Hong is still nominally the head of the Eastern Depot, the actual power has been transferred to Zhang Jing, in accordance with the emperor's wishes.

The first secret report that the Eastern Depot submitted to him was actually an accusation that Chen Kai, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, secretly sided with Wei Guangde and blocked the flow of information within the Censorate.

The secret memorial stated that Yang Sizhi, the censor of Shaanxi Circuit, had submitted a memorial impeaching the late Grand Tutor Zhang Juzheng for fourteen major crimes, including "generally speaking, he was greedy and unruly, usurped power, formed cliques, forgot his relatives, deceived the emperor, misled the monarch, and brought disaster to the people." After that, Chen Kai suppressed the censors in the Censorate and successively prevented Sun Jixian, the censor of Sichuan Circuit, and censors Chen Yujiao and Xiang Rihong from submitting memorials to impeach Zhang Juzheng.

All of this was because Chen Zi was instructed by Wei Guangde.

They all came from Jiangxi and, together with Zhang Ke, Minister of War, Jiang Zhi, Minister of Works, Wei Shiliang, Vice Minister of Revenue, and Lao Kan, Vice Minister of Personnel, formed the Jiangxi Party.

To be honest, this secret memorial was extremely powerful, as it almost completely wiped out Wei Guangde's inner circle.

After so many years of planning, Wei Guangde's ruling clique had taken shape and indeed occupied a very important position in the Ming Dynasty court.

Most importantly, it also points out that Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng had a deep personal relationship, and that their collaboration in the cabinet was merely a charade to deliberately create conflict and mislead the emperor in order to achieve their ulterior motives.

Before Wei Guangde entered the palace, Emperor Wanli was still considering the reliability of the secret report.

Yes, he put Zhang Jing in charge of the Eastern Depot, but he didn't intend to cause any trouble.

However, Zhang Jing clearly failed to do so and instead gave him a royal flush.

One of the key aspects of Zhang Juzheng's training of the Wanli Emperor was teaching him to look beyond appearances and grasp the essence of things; Wei Guangde also repeatedly gave him this advice.

Therefore, when Emperor Wanli received the secret report, he did not believe it at first, but instead pondered whether there was a conflict between Zhang Jing and Wei Guangde.

His dislike for Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao was largely known to those around him, and the secret memorial that Zhang Jing handed over intentionally or unintentionally linked Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde together.

This made him wonder if Zhang Jing had done it intentionally.

His gaze fell on the names of the officials Zhang Jing believed to be from the Jiangxi Party. They were indeed all from Jiangxi, the same province as Wei Guangde.

However, it was not uncommon for Ming Dynasty officials to take care of their fellow villagers.

As for Zhang Jing's claim that Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were in cahoots, he didn't really believe it.

In fact, if the secret memorial had not mentioned Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng, but only focused on explaining the power of Wei Guangde and the Jiangxi faction in the court, he might have been moved.

After all, what the emperor feared most was that his officials would collude and usurp his imperial power.

As for other things, as long as they are not done too excessively and do not threaten the imperial power, he can turn a blind eye.

In fact, between Zhang Jing and Wei Guangde, Emperor Wanli trusted Wei Guangde more. After all, Zhang Jing had only been with him for a short time, while Wei Guangde had been by his side since his childhood.

"Someone, summon Zhang Jing to see me."

Emperor Wanli gave the order.

"Yes."

The eunuch beside him hurriedly agreed and quickly walked out of the hall.

Wei Guangde and others had already returned to the cabinet. Without waiting for the Ministry of War to formally submit a memorial, Wei Guangde summoned everyone together and asked Shen Shixing to draft an edict for Zheng Luo, conveying the court's intentions.

At the same time, Zhang Xueyan also wrote several notes in the cabinet, ordering officials from the Ministry of Revenue to go to Tongzhou to count the grain.

Zhang Ke has not yet made any decision; it will be too late to mobilize the army until news comes from Datong.

In fact, during this period, the troops left behind in Jizhou were all gathered by Dong Yiyuan along the Great Wall to be on guard against the threat from the north.

Therefore, the Ministry of War only needs to mobilize the five battalions of the Beijing Garrison.

Orders were issued from the cabinet, and the courier service had no right to question the decisions of the officials. Upon receiving the decrees, they immediately set off without stopping, braving the heavy snow, and rushed out of the capital, heading northwest.

Meanwhile, the doctors in charge of the Tongzhou granary at the Ministry of Revenue were all looking miserable. Despite the heavy snow, they still had to go out of the city to Tongzhou on official business, and the New Year was fast approaching.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to return to the capital this year."

"Who says otherwise? In the past, issuing a document would have sufficed, but this time Lord Zhang insists that we go and inspect the warehouse in person. Really..."

He didn't dare say the rest. Zhang Xueyan had been in the Ministry of Revenue for quite some time, and if his complaints reached the ears of the higher-ups, he would be in trouble.

"Haven't you heard the rumors? The Mongols are gathering outside Datong City. It's probably because Shanxi is running out of food and they need to transfer grain from Tongzhou."

They weren't stupid. The Ministry of War hadn't kept it a secret. News of the blizzard on the grasslands had already spread throughout the capital. To avoid the disaster, the Mongols could only head south towards the Great Wall, where the weather was generally better than in the north.

But when they arrived in the Ming Dynasty, they naturally wanted this and that.

The group was asked to leave as soon as possible, and they all sent people home to deliver messages and prepare their luggage.

Now I'm sitting in the yamen, waiting for my family to bring me things, and then I'll go to Tongzhou to carry out my duties under the escort of the Beijing garrison.

In this respect, the Ming Dynasty did a good job. When officials went out on official business, a team of guards from the Beijing Garrison would accompany them.

They ate and drank at post stations along the way, with the Beijing garrison accompanying them as attendants. It was just that the season was not good; if it were any other time, they would still enjoy going out of the capital on official business.

More than an hour later, just as each family had delivered their luggage to the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Xueyan returned from the cabinet.

Immediately, the clerk came over and summoned the unfortunate men to the Minister's office.

"This matter is of great importance. Once you arrive in Tongzhou, first count 20,000 shi of grain and immediately send it to Miyun. The Ministry of War will dispatch troops to escort it. So when you arrive in Tongzhou, the first thing you should do is to gather as many carts and horses as possible." Based on the information about the disaster suffered by Mongolia in the Northern Garrison Command, especially the population data of several northern tribes, which Liu Shouyou urgently retrieved from the archives of the Northern Garrison Command, the cabinet has roughly estimated the amount of grain that needs to be allocated, which is between 70,000 and 80,000 shi.

The data from the Embroidered Uniform Guard was merely an estimate, based on the amount of salt and tea traded between merchants and northern nomadic tribes.

It may not be perfectly accurate, but the error should be small.

Of course, there's also the weather. If the arrival of spring is also delayed, the required grain might need to be increased by several thousand to tens of thousands of bushels.

Fortunately, the Tongzhou granary had sufficient grain reserves. Over the years, the grain transported via the canal and sea has never been delayed. For two or three consecutive years, the Tongzhou granary has been fully stocked, which is why the cabinet dared to make this decision.

If there are no errors, the grain stored in Tongzhou Granary is enough to support the capital for two or three years.

However, Wei Guangde knew about the later incident of rats in the granaries, and there was also Hai Rui in the court. In just over a year in the Nanjing Censorate, he had already investigated several important granaries in Jiangnan and dealt with a number of people.

Hai Rui reported the situation in Jiangnan to the emperor and also hoped that the capital would send people to investigate several important granaries in the north, such as Tongzhou.

This time, Wei Guangde took the opportunity to bring up the matter and asked the Ministry of Revenue to handle it as well.

Of course, this time the Ministry of Revenue was allowed to conduct the investigation itself, and the Censors of the Censorate were not allowed to accompany them.

However, Zhang Xueyan also understood what he meant: if he discovered it himself, he would handle it internally and recover the losses, and that would be the end of it.

After the New Year, the Censorate will definitely conduct an inventory of important warehouses in Tongzhou and Linqing. If any problems are found in the warehouses at that time, it will definitely be a big deal.

This is also why Zhang Xueyan rushed back to his office to meet with his subordinates after leaving the cabinet.

"Next year, the Censorate will send special envoys to inventory several important warehouses controlled by the imperial court in the north. Therefore, Tongzhou must be on high alert this time and thoroughly inspect the warehouses. Absolutely no favoritism or corruption is allowed."

If a problem is discovered, it should be addressed immediately and the deficit made up; do not take any chances.

"If the Censorate finds anything, don't blame me for not giving you advance notice."

Zhang Xueyan's words were actually intended to spread the news so that all the departments of the Ministry of Revenue would know.

With the reminder, they naturally knew what to do. They knew exactly where the deficits were, even better than he, the Minister.

Having said that, the official in charge and the other officials naturally understood the seriousness of the matter and nodded in agreement.

I was originally thinking of just going through the motions, but it seems that won't work now.

After everyone left the duty room, Zhang Xueyan plopped back down in her chair.

There's no doubt that there was something fishy about the affairs of the Ming Dynasty's warehouse management.

But even though he knew, he couldn't do everything himself, and often he could only pretend to be confused.

However, the premise is that the imperial court does not investigate.

Once an inventory check is required, he will naturally be unable to shirk his leadership responsibility, but the people below him are the most dangerous, as they could easily get involved in something.

At this level, he couldn't remember the good, the bad, or the bad anymore. But if a thorough investigation were to be conducted, not to mention the Ministry of Revenue, even the most clean Ministry of Rites would be found to have a lot of ridiculous and outrageous things to do.

It's because the imperial court doesn't care that everyone acts so recklessly.

However, this time, Wei Guangde clearly stated in the cabinet that he planned to conduct a comprehensive inventory next year to find out the true state of the Ming Dynasty.

These words were spoken in front of Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing, and the meaning was self-evident: they were reminding them to greet the people on their respective online platforms.

It's clear that Grand Secretary Wei is serious this time.

The inventory check was not only Wei Guangde's plan; Zhang Juzheng had also planned it from the beginning.

However, the land survey was a very important matter, so it was postponed.

In the end, Zhang Juzheng was too weak to handle the matter and had to hand it over to Wei Guangde.

This is a job that will offend people, but you can't not do it. You don't even know the family's financial situation, so what else can you do?
Moreover, Wei Guangde now genuinely intends to establish large-scale granaries in the north to store a large amount of grain, and most importantly, to establish an even larger grain production base in Southeast Asia to cope with the increasingly severe climate.

To be honest, Wei Guangde pondered for a long time before reaching a conclusion on how to deal with the Little Ice Age at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

There is no hope if we don't go out and explore.

The Ming Dynasty had already opened its seas to the world. Expanding outwards at this time, especially turning Southeast Asia into the Ming Dynasty's backyard, was a crucial step for the Ming Dynasty to overcome this critical situation.

If grain is not imported through Southeast Asia and the Ming Dynasty relies solely on its own resources, even if grain is transferred from the south to supplement the shortage in the north, the result may not be very good. This would lead to a shortage of grain supply and a rise in grain prices in both the north and south of the Ming Dynasty.

Although many workshops have been built throughout the Ming Dynasty, and many people have entered these workshops to become artisans and their incomes have increased, the Ming Dynasty as a whole is still very weak in resisting such extreme weather.

It can hold out for two or three years, or even three to five years, but it absolutely cannot withstand the extreme and severe weather that will continue for more than a decade in the future.

Only by establishing a grain transport line from Southeast Asia to the Ming Dynasty could large-scale requisition of grain from Southeast Asia be carried out to provide emergency relief at critical moments.

Wei Guangde did not tell anyone about this.

Upon returning to the Ministry of War, Zhang Ke immediately instructed his clerk to send a document to the South China Sea Navy, ordering them to quickly collect 100,000 shi of grain from Southeast Asia and organize ships to transport it north to Tianjin.

100,000 shi of grain is not much, compared to the nearly 4 million shi of grain transported annually.

However, Zhang Ke vaguely sensed Wei Guangde's intention to import grain from Southeast Asia in the long term, because when he left, Wei Guangde said to him, "The grain supplies for the South China Sea Navy all come from Southeast Asia, and the price of grain is quite low. It is appropriate to arrange to replenish the Tongzhou granary."

Transporting the grain collected from various prefectures in Jiangnan was quite laborious. If it were possible to purchase it in large quantities in Southeast Asia and ship it directly to Tianjin, it would undoubtedly greatly reduce the corvée labor imposed on the people of Jiangnan.

At the same time, keeping more grain locally can also help suppress local grain prices.

Many farmers in Jiangnan have switched from farming to manual labor. Zhang Ke didn't know whether this would affect agriculture in the future, but Lao Kan had brought it up during their small circle of friends' gatherings.

His shop now employs several times more workers than before, some of whom are displaced farmers, while others are farmers who have given up renting land.

Of course, just because they don't farm doesn't mean the land is abandoned; someone will always be willing to take it over.

However, Lao Kan had already noticed the income difference between farming and manual labor.

In fact, this was also the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed commerce when he founded the Ming Dynasty. He was worried that commercial development would encroach on the agricultural population and affect agricultural production.

During the Ming Dynasty's recovery period, agriculture was the foundation of the nation's stability.

At the time, Wei Guangde was quite dismissive, not thinking it was a big deal. He mentioned that the South China Sea Fleet only obtained a small amount of grain from Zhejiang, and the majority of the grain was purchased from Southeast Asia.

When purchasing grain in Southeast Asia, the South China Sea Navy found that they had actually saved money after doing the math.

Although not many. (End of Chapter)