prosperous age

Whether Zhang Jing was angry or not, Wei Guangde didn't care. Although he was very curious, it didn't stop him from walking out of Wei's mansion with light steps the next day and getting into the sedan chair.

"Go to the palace."

After taking his seat, Wei Guangde simply said something to the outside and then fell silent.

He had plenty to do today, so he didn't have time to think about Zhang Jing anymore.

It must be said that although Zhang Jing was not of high rank, the Wanli Emperor's favor towards him alone made Wei Guangde have to take him seriously.

When he entered the cabinet this morning, a junior eunuch subtly slipped a small note into his hand.

Wei Guangde pretended nothing was wrong until he entered the duty room and then opened the note to take a look.

The note briefly described the Wanli Emperor's meeting with Zhang Jing the previous night. Based on the handwriting, Wei Guangde knew it was written by Liu Ruoyu.

Since Chen Ju was not in the capital, Liu Ruoyu sent all the news from the Qianqing Palace directly to him.

In the past, it usually had to go through Chen Ju's hands as well.

This is similar to the teacher-student relationship between officials in the outer court, while in the palace it's like a father-son relationship. Through this, the chief eunuch can know everything that happens in the palace.

Wei Guangde glanced at the few memorials before him but didn't examine them closely, setting them aside after only a cursory look.

Before long, Zhang Xueyan arrived with several people from the Ministry of Revenue to request an audience.

Lu Bu led them in, served tea, and then Wei Guangde leisurely came out from the inner room.

Actually, it's just separated by a screen.

"Greetings, Your Excellency the Grand Secretary."

After Wei Guangde came out, Zhang Xueyan and the people from the Ministry of Revenue bowed to him, and Wei Guangde also hurriedly cupped his hands and asked them to sit down and talk.

After Wei Guangde was seated, he spoke, "I suppose Ziyu has already told you all that I invited you here today."

As soon as Wei Guangde finished speaking, the officials from the Ministry of Revenue all nodded slightly.

"The fact that you were brought here means that you are all experts in auditing accounts in the imperial court."

This is your chance to realize your ambitions.

The Aoshan Lantern Festival has suffered serious overspending, and His Majesty issued an edict yesterday ordering the Ministry of Revenue to investigate.

As you all know, the Ministry of Revenue is currently in a financial situation where revenue is insufficient to cover expenditures, and now this matter has arisen.

I only hope that you can strictly investigate all expenditures. If even a penny is missing, the court will have to bear less of the expenditure.

It is very important to record your findings in detail.

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Xueyan.

"Don't worry, Your Excellency. I already told them about it on the way here."

If corruption is found, double compensation will be imposed. If they are truly greedy, the court may not only avoid paying a single coin, but may even have a surplus to subsidize the losses.

Zhang Xueyan smiled.

Wei Guangde knew that Zhang Xueyan must have been a skilled man found by the Ministry of Revenue, otherwise he wouldn't have dared to bring him here.

Then he smiled and said, "In that case, you may wait a moment while Eunuch Zhang arrives."

After saying this, Wei Guangde called out to the outside, "Lubu."

"master."

Lu Bu entered the house and stood respectfully before him.

"Go and see when Eunuch Zhang Hong will be arriving."

Wei Guangde spoke up.

"Yes."

Lu Bu turned and left the duty room, quickly walking outside.

I contacted Zhang Hong yesterday, and he came over early this morning.

Last night, the accounting books for the Aoshan Lantern Festival were sealed by the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs and are awaiting handover.

The handover didn't require Wei Guangde's involvement; Zhang Xueyan could handle it himself.

When Zhang Hong arrived, although he still had an unpleasant expression, he was still quite polite.

"Thank you, Eunuch Zhang. What do you think? Should we take the account books to the Cabinet for verification, or should we have them look at the account books somewhere else?"

After welcoming Zhang Hong in, Wei Guangde ignored his sour face and asked him questions.

"Let's keep it in the cabinet; I've already had someone bring the account books over."

Zhang Hong replied, his expression and tone not being noticed by the eunuch who followed him in.

After all, it was someone from the outer court who was tasked with investigating the inner court, so Wei Guangde was quite understanding of Zhang Hong's behavior.

It's like how civil officials aren't afraid of being tried in the Ministry of Justice, but they are afraid of falling into the hands of the secret police.

The affairs of civil officials should be handled by civil officials themselves; there is no need for the palace to intervene.

The same applies to the inner court; the trouble caused by the eunuchs is something they actually hope to handle within the palace.

What Wei Guangde didn't know was that things were also unsettled in the inner court last night.

The discussions outside the palace were intense, and they weren't quiet inside either; some eunuchs were already reminiscing about the era of Eunuch Feng.

If Feng Bao were in the palace, he might have allowed the outer court to interfere in the affairs of the inner court, which means that Wei Guangde took advantage of the fact that Emperor Wanli was not familiar with the intricacies of officialdom.

However, Wei Guangde was actually quite innocent; at this point, he simply couldn't trust anyone in the inner court.

Things were fine when Chen Ju was around, but now that he's gone to Jingzhou, who can help him keep an eye on these unexpected events?

Only if the Ministry of Revenue investigates the final figures will they be willing to share the costs, even if it means having to do so.

Next, Wei Guangde had two empty rooms found in the cabinet to accommodate the Ministry of Revenue staff.

Zhang Xueyan naturally wouldn't stay there indefinitely; he still had to return to the Ministry of Revenue to handle some business.

However, he had to be present when handing over the ledgers, so that his subordinates could count them and then sign and affix their fingerprints.

"Your Excellency, is it inappropriate to keep these account books in the palace?"

In Wei Guangde's duty room, the handover had just been completed. Zhang Xueyan had his men start taking stock of the accounts, while he went to Wei Guangde's room first.

As agreed with Zhang Hong beforehand, the account books are kept here, and people from the Ministry of Revenue can come to the palace to work here every day.

To this end, each of the Ministry of Revenue officials involved in the accounting was issued a token that allowed them to enter and exit the palace.

Wei Guangde also has this token, but it doesn't matter whether he carries it or not now, he can just use facial recognition.

Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Xueyan and asked with a smile, "Are you worried that someone might resort to desperate measures?"

"Our biggest fear now is that someone will tamper with the ledgers, and things could get messed up."

Zhang Xueyan didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear.

The simplest way to destroy the ledgers is by setting them on fire.

There are many possible reasons for how the fire started, but a single fire can destroy all the evidence.

“At night, after everyone has left, the Zhongshu (Secretariat) and the eunuchs will check the place together and then lock it up.”

After that, the eunuchs took charge.

If something goes wrong, it will be the inner court's fault. The Ministry of Revenue can simply shirk responsibility and not care about anything else, as long as they insist that there is a problem with the account books.

Zhang Jing is bold, but it's unlikely that Zhang Hong wouldn't have taken precautions.

Wei Guangde said in a low voice.

"But I just saw Eunuch Zhang's expression."

Zhang Xueyan carefully reminded him.

"It's an act. You might not know this, but Zhang Jing was originally Zhang Hong's godson, although the two are no longer related."

This is also why Zhang Jing is so eager to establish his position in the Emperor's eyes through the Aoshan Lantern Festival. In the palace, apart from the Emperor, no one takes him seriously anymore.

"Of course, he was in charge of the Eastern Depot, and everyone in the court was afraid of him," Wei Guangde continued.

Unless something happens in the inner court and becomes a big deal, people in the outer court, unless they are interested, may not necessarily know about the conflict between Zhang Jing and Zhang Hong.

Zhang Hong is an upright person who cannot tolerate any wrongdoing. Zhang Jing's behavior has crossed his bottom line.

It's just that Zhang Hong couldn't find, or was too lazy to find, evidence against Zhang Jing.

By comparison, Zhang Jing had the emperor standing behind him, so slapping Zhang Jing was actually slapping the emperor's face as well.

Given his easygoing and unassuming nature, Zhang Hong would never go to extremes; he was truly the most amiable person in the inner court.

"So, Zhang Jing is not well-liked in the inner court."

After hearing this, Zhang Xueyan's face lit up with surprise, and she said...

"It's because he made His Majesty very happy. Even if something is found out about this matter, Zhang Jing can probably settle it with money."

Wei Guangde sighed.

Just then, Lu Bu hurried into the room and whispered, "Master, Minister Xu Xuemo of the Ministry of Rites and Minister Yan Qing of the Ministry of Personnel have arrived."

"Understood. Invite them in, and then invite the other elders in the cabinet."

Today, the Cabinet will also discuss with the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites the reform of the imperial examination system, adding a supplementary list and assigning officials to specific tasks in the southwestern provinces.

Seeing this, Zhang Xueyan knew it was not a suitable place for him to stay, so he immediately took his leave.

Wei Guangde saw Zhang Xueyan out, and at the same time welcomed the people from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel in.

"Lord Yan, I think you really need to take good care of your health."

After Zhang Xueyan left, they entered the duty room. Wei Guangde saw that Yan Qing was having difficulty walking, so he reached out and helped him inside.

"I never dared to dream of sitting in my current position before. It was only because this matter concerns the Southwest that I came here in person."

After the provincial examinations are completed after the New Year, I plan to submit a memorial requesting to return home.

Yan Qing is not young. Having spent forty years in officialdom, he must have had enough of being an official.

Yan Qingshi, courtesy name Zhiqing, was a native of Yunnan Prefecture. He passed the provincial examination in the 22nd year of the Jiajing reign and became a Jinshi in the Jia Chen year of the reign. In his early years, he served as the magistrate of Fushun County.

Like Wei Guangde, he was also born into a military household, and his family held hereditary military positions in Yunnan.

To be honest, apart from Sichuan, very few scholars in the other provinces of Southwest China were able to climb to the position of one of the Nine Ministers through the imperial examinations.

Most of the candidates from the Southwest, once they were over thirty years old, had no interest in an official career and were even too lazy to travel over mountains and rivers to the capital to take the exam.

In fact, most of the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel are now handled by Vice Ministers Yang Wei and Lao Kan.

However, today's matter concerns Old Master Yan's hometown. The quality of officials in the southwest is uneven, largely because the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) are unwilling to go there.

Not to mention county magistrates and registrars, who were of the eighth or ninth rank, many scholars were unwilling to take even the seventh-rank county magistrate position.

In other words, the positions of prefect, assistant prefect, and sub-prefect of the fifth or sixth rank were still worth considering for those who had passed the imperial examinations.

Therefore, many of the officials in the southwest were actually scholars who had passed the imperial examinations.

It's not that a Juren (举人) is less capable than a Jinshi (进士), but they are indeed a little bit inferior.

This time, the cabinet is considering adding a supplementary list to the imperial examination and designating officials to serve in the southwest. This would at least ensure that officials at the county magistrate level in the southwest can be selected from those who have passed the imperial examination, which would make Yan Qing's position less important.

After the cabinet ministers arrived, Wei Guangde spoke up, saying, "Now that everyone is here, I believe you all know the purpose of this gathering."

In recent years, the eastern region of the dynasty has been economically vibrant and commercially prosperous, and everyone knows it is a good place, so those who have passed the imperial examinations and are selected for official positions flock there.

As for the western region, especially the southwest, due to the lack of civilization caused by chieftains and other factors, most of the successful candidates in the imperial examinations were unwilling to accept the selection of officials in the southwest. They preferred to stay in the capital and wait rather than go.

Therefore, yesterday I suggested to Your Majesty that a supplementary list be added to the provincial examination, and that those who pass the supplementary list could decide for themselves whether to register with the Ministry of Rites to participate in the palace examination.

Their status was the same as the top three, and after the palace examination, they could be granted official positions with the same status as Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), and their post would be located in the southwest.

Wei Guangde spoke eloquently, explaining all his thoughts.

"The reason I have gathered you all here today is to discuss whether this method is feasible."

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he waited for the people below to discuss it.

“In the early years, there was also a supplementary list for the imperial examination. However, those who passed the supplementary list did not participate in the palace examination. Instead, they were granted minor positions in the capital, such as assistant officials in prefectures and counties, or teaching positions.”

France initially implemented this system for a period of time due to a shortage of talent, but later gradually abandoned it.

Bringing it out again now seems inappropriate.

The imperial court wasn't actually lacking in successful candidates in the imperial examinations; rather, the southwest region was undeveloped, and most of the newly appointed candidates were unwilling to go there.

Xu Xuemo spoke up, directly stating the reason why the Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) did not go.

Uncivilized and uncivilized, the locals were barbaric, and it was common for them to cause trouble in the southwest. After committing crimes, they would hide in the mountains, and the imperial court's laws would be ignored.

That's why nobody goes there; the risk is too high.

Moreover, the conflict between civil officials and local officials was extremely deep. When civil officials collected taxes, many local officials saw it as the imperial court robbing them of their money.

This is the origin of the conflict between the government and the chieftains. Without the Ming Dynasty, all the taxes collected would have been the property of the chieftains.

However, the government wanted to take the majority of the profits, which naturally made them dissatisfied.

If they dared not rebel at first out of fear of the imperial court, as the Ming court became corrupt, the local officials, seeing that civil officials were embezzling taxes, naturally became even more resentful.

Therefore, learned people were unwilling to go there or develop the area.

The local people were always ruled by the local chieftains, and this continued unchanging from generation to generation, which in turn enhanced the chieftains' authority in the region.

This marked the beginning of a vicious cycle, which led to the Ming Dynasty's increasingly weak control over the southwest in later periods.

"Enlightenment, this is a big problem."

The dynasty has ruled for over a century, yet the locals still revere their local chieftains as supreme, disregarding the laws of the imperial court.

Wei Guangde murmured.

"The only places the imperial court could control in the southwest were prefectures, counties, and large cities. In the countryside, local officials were indeed in charge."

The imperial court can no longer tolerate this situation and should appoint capable officials to govern it.

Yan Qing also acknowledged this, but it would require assigning capable people to gradually make changes.

"The local chieftain system has always been a problem. The only solution to the problem of governing the southwest is to abolish the local chieftain system and allow the people to be appointed by the central government."

Yu Youding glanced at Shen Shixing and suddenly interjected.

"The policy of replacing local chieftains with centrally appointed officials is no easy task. Earlier, the cabinet also had Qi Jiguang use force to coerce the Jurchen tribes in Liaodong into implementing the policy of replacing local chieftains with centrally appointed officials."

Shen Shixing continued, but then shook his head and smiled bitterly, "As you can probably guess, the result was not ideal."

The most important aspect of the "replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials" policy was that the imperial court needed to prepare troops to promptly suppress local rebellions after the abolition of the native chieftain system.

After several generations, who would care whether you were a descendant of a chieftain?

The essence of the "reform of local chieftains and replacement of local officials with appointed officials" was to abolish the hereditary system of chieftains and to manage local affairs with appointed officials from the imperial court.

As for the Tusi (local chieftains), having lost their original political status, they could only degenerate into a class of gentry and landlords.

This is something that most chieftains cannot accept.

Therefore, the Tusi system continued in China for many years until the reign of Emperor Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty. Under the emperor's iron-fisted approach and the intimidation of troops from multiple provinces, the hereditary system of local Tusi was forcibly abolished.
The Qing government established administrative agencies such as prefectures, sub-prefectures, states, and counties, and appointed officials with fixed terms and non-hereditary positions to manage them.

"The Jurchens of Liaodong can flee north, but where can the chieftains of the southwest go?"

Wei Guangde suddenly asked, "Hide away in the mountains?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Shixing had already guessed Wei Guangde's plan.

"The reform of local chieftains and the replacement of chieftains with centrally appointed officials is mainly for deterrence. If it doesn't work in Liaodong, it doesn't mean it won't work in the southwest."

Wei Guangde continued, "Leaving aside the issue of replacing native chieftains with appointed officials, is it feasible to add a supplementary list to the provincial examination?"

"Naturally."

"There is precedent, and the Ministry of Rites has no objection." (End of Chapter)