eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 325 The Spring of the Local Official
Although the Dachaohui wasted a lot of time and brought many local officials to the capital, it was actually a waste of time and money.But Zhu Houzhao still wants to do this.

Because he will make every effort to let the main officials of the country understand what the court is going to do every year, and announce it to the public in an upright manner.Layout, comprehension, and let the people below figure it out like Kaihai are only applicable to special matters.

In other words, he did not agree with Emperor Jiajing's "riddle-guessing" style of governing the country. Although it was convenient for controlling the court, it was not good for the country. Zhu Houzhao chose the right way.

After the seven-day conference, officials from all walks of life should "run the department" and those who should leave Beijing should leave Beijing.

And the palace also continued to spread the decree-they were all transferred officials.

Before the Great Court Meeting, Shandong Chief Envoy Liu Jian was promoted to Governor. Except for him, the rest of the people did not adjust.Now that it's over, the Ministry of Officials will start to act according to the emperor's instructions.

The emperor summoned dozens of officials in a row, which is actually a kind of examination for officials. Some people perform well in this kind of examination, and some perform poorly. Of course, the reactions in official careers are different.

Only through direct changes in personnel can the various tasks in the first year of Zhengde be promoted, and the dynasty in the second year of Zhengde will be smoother.

What do you mean?
— Well done, promoted.

If all the officials just came to Beijing for a formality, and then went back to their respective homes after the work, there would be no movement at all.After a few years, the Grand Court Meeting will become a kind of public tourism, and the annual tasks discussed by the emperor and the cabinet will become empty words.

Therefore, on March [-]th, the day after the Great Court Meeting ended, an imperial decree was issued, and the decree was announced by the Supervisor of Rites, the Cabinet, and the Ministry of Officials.

Fei Hong, the governor of Sichuan, was promoted to the governor of Sichuan, and he was awarded the title of Yushi, the prime minister of grain storage, the admiral of military affairs and the governor of Sichuan.As soon as the news came out, everyone was shocked.

Because Fei Zichong is only 39 years old this year, it is really rare for him to serve as a senior official of the governor of a province at such an age.

Even Yang Tinghe back then did not have such a speed.

After that, the decree came out faster and faster, even reaching the point where a decree decided the fate of several people.

Zhejiang inspector Peng Ze was transferred to Henan governor, and Huguang political envoy Huang Changyin was transferred to Huguang governor.Mao Ji, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, served as the chief envoy of Zhejiang Province, and Wang Qiong no longer served concurrently.

Ji Ying and Ying Ying, the governors of Guangdong, were slow and demoted to the prefects of Raozhou, Jiangxi.

In addition, the governor of Jiangxi and the envoy of the third department were dispatched by the Ministry of Officials, and the number of governors fell on the head of Jiao Fang, the minister of the Ministry of Industry.

Jiao Fang had always wanted to be a lucky minister, and he was the most active in flattering the emperor. Jiangxi's officialdom earthquake last year vacated many places. This time the opportunity came, but he didn't know how he could do it.

The emperor's continuous large-scale adjustment of officials in various places has indeed aroused many discussions.

The first one is that no matter whether they are officials on the list or not, they all understand what the "path to success" is, and that is to make tangible achievements.

Fei Hong, the new official, took advantage of the fact that officials from all over the country were still in the capital, and on March [-], he went to see Shaanxi Governor Qi Chengtun and Taipusi Minister Wang Zhi.

The person who does it is the horse.

"...When His Majesty was discussing horse affairs that day, I have been brewing these ideas."

The three of them sat at the table, and the fresh hot tea was steaming with mist.

Fei Hong was the youngest among them, Qi Chengtun and Wang Tun were both in their early forties, Qi Chengtun was fine, but Wang Tun was hired by the head of the Yuanma Farm, where the conditions were even more difficult, so his face There are many wrinkles, and people are lean and lean due to years of hard work.

The three officials sat idle in the pavilion, wearing red Luo jackets, skirts and knee covers outside, white gauze singles inside, white socks and black shoes on their feet, leather belts and ribbons around their waists, and beam crowns on their heads.If ordinary people saw this, it would be an incredible three masters.

"Your Majesty transfers money to the Governor's Mansion of the Three Sides, and the Governor's Mansion of the Three Sides pays the money to buy the horses again, but the horses at the Shaanxi Official Horse Farm should not be enough. The number of war horses is quite tight, isn't it?"

Wang Ting is an expert in 'horse', and he immediately understood the meaning of the Sichuan governor in front of him, "Tibetan horses are short, if the subordinate officials sell these horses to Mr. Yang Ge, Mr. Yang Ge will probably chop off the subordinate officials' heads." , even His Majesty will not spare the officer."

Fei Hong waved his hand, "Why would I ask Wang Taifu to do such a thing? The war horses bred on the northern racecourse are naturally different from those in the southwest, but Tibetan horses can't be war horses, but they can carry goods, so they can replace some tall war horses. .In addition, in order to raise as many war horses as possible, His Majesty's intention is to slowly turn Taipu Temple into a 'horse merchant'..."

Qi Chengtun also heard the string song and knew the elegant meaning. "In the sixth year of Chenghua, the Xianmiao decreed that the tributes of Wusizang and Duogansi must come to Beijing from Sichuan, and Sichuan has become a concentrated place for the tea and horse trade. But if you want to come Like Shaanxi, private tea is rampant and prohibited.”

The tea-horse trade was a way of bartering between the Central Plains dynasty and the ethnic minorities, and exchanging tea for horses was originally a matter of what each needed.

But tea, like salt, is a commodity controlled by the state.

First, the profits are huge. Second, tea is the daily necessities of ethnic minorities, so controlling tea can actually control their lifeline. This is a national security strategic consideration.

Moreover, after the country takes control, it can gain a bargaining advantage, that is, foreigners can only buy from me at a certain price, and this price is naturally relatively expensive for them.

In this way, private tea will definitely be produced,

Because places such as Ya'an and Qamdo are suitable for growing tea, through the tea-horse trade, tens of catties of tea can be exchanged for a horse—the price of a horse can be sold for more than [-] taels no matter what.

The living expenses of an ordinary household are about ten taels a year.Therefore, ordinary people will do this kind of transaction at the risk of breaking the law.

Looking back, the idea of ​​controlling ethnic minority tribes by controlling tea has actually come to nothing—people are smuggling tea in large quantities.

Fei Hong has been in Sichuan for several years, and he is very clear about the proliferation of private tea.

Yang Yiqing was also in Shaanxi at the beginning, and Yang Ge's method was to crack down severely, so the momentum of private tea in Shaanxi was curbed.

But Fei Hong is considering another way.

"Private tea is really hard to control, so I'm thinking, can the imperial court become a tea merchant. After the tea is exchanged for horses, it will be sold to the Taipu Temple."

Fei Hong had a good idea.

But Qi Chengtun didn't understand, "The original tea-horse market was dominated by the imperial court. How is it different from becoming a tea merchant? The key is to severely punish smuggling."

"It's not the same. In the past, the imperial court dominated the tea-horse trade, and it ended after the tea was exchanged for horses, but the horses still had to become silver in the end, so that the imperial court could explain to the people. I don't know how you two understand your Majesty's thinking. In fact, there are many things. Your Majesty is It is necessary to 'drive people away with profit'. Tea is exchanged for Tibetan horses, Tibetan horses are exchanged for silver, and the silver is used to buy tea. The key is to straighten out this chain."

Wang Ting wondered, "If you want to sell the horse, why do you need Taipu Temple? Mr. Zichong can sell the horse himself."

"The imperial court used troops in the northwest, and the number of horses was insufficient. How can I, as the governor of Sichuan, sell horses to the people at this time?"

"But private tea will still be flooded. If the people change their horses, they can always trade with the people themselves."

Fei Hong answered eloquently, probably because he had thought about it in advance, "Small merchants smuggle, firstly, the quantity is small, so there is nothing to worry about, and secondly, the imperial court must negotiate a better price than him in large-scale transactions. And if big merchants smuggle, the imperial court Can be punished, harmless to the people, that’s all.”

There is a subtle difference here, that is, Fei Hong wants to learn from more and more "imperial merchants" recently to establish a tea merchant and join this competition.Solve problems by means of business rather than government fiat.

In the past, the actions of the government were administrative thinking. After watching the emperor's thinking for so long, Fei Hong could vaguely grasp something.Just like Meiji in Hangzhou, the imperial court was conducting maritime trade, and at the same time allowed the people to do so.

why?
Since sea trade makes money, why not all of it is controlled by the imperial court?
One of the important ones is that the government should give the people a way to survive.

The people in Sichuan also have a way out.

This way of life must come from tea. Tea can be exchanged for horses, and horses can be exchanged for silver. If the government establishes a tea merchant, it will establish a channel with Taipu Temple to exchange horses for silver.

Isn't tea turned into silver?

However, this transition from administration to market is very subtle, and there is no obvious difference from the previous imperial court-dominated tea-horse market.

If there is, it is the tea and horse trade in the imperial court in the past, with the ultimate goal of exchanging horses. To put it bluntly, this trade is allowed because of the lack of horses.But this time Fei Hong's idea is to exchange for silver as the ultimate goal.

Horses are a kind of weapon in cold weapons, so they used to be invested for the victory of the war.But silver, behind it is a kind of business.

In the process of doing business, it also makes up for the shortage of horses.

It's really not easy to understand,
The Minister of the Taipusi, Wang Fu, had some doubts about this. He was asked to pay for it today. What if he spent 10 taels of silver and bought [-] horses, but the quality was not up to standard, how would he explain?

The imperial court is now closely pursuing the allocated money. He could have been a minister in the hands of Ming Jun, and if he did a good job, he would be a famous minister of the generation. Why bother taking risks for the sake of Fei Zichong's face?
So after pondering for a while, he said: "Brother Zichong, the tea-horse market is very involved. I wonder if the emperor has been involved in this matter?"

"It's not too late yet." Fei Hong also said truthfully.

He actually wanted to make some achievements, coordinated with the relevant parties, and reported the results to the emperor, so that it was easier to get the emperor's support.

Yang Yiqing in the northwest has been running extremely fast in the past three to five years, with the faint aura of the first official of Zhengde, and the emperor Wang Jia in the southeast, who is in charge of the opening of the sea as a heavenly official.

One south and one north, two major events.

But Southwest remained silent.

Before the Great Court Meeting this year, when the emperor summoned him, he had some doubts about Sichuan, a land of abundance, with only 80 to 100 shi of tax and food per year. Even he himself felt that Sichuan, a treasured land, should perform better.

In addition, now everyone from top to bottom wants to get rid of bad governance, so he also wants to make a difference.

"If you don't report to the emperor...forgive me, it's hard for me to simply agree. The money allocated by the imperial court is for the Taipu Temple to raise more war horses, but I bought some Tibetan horses back. I'm afraid it's not right."

Fei Hong also wanted to win, "The horses used for transportation could have been Tibetan horses."

"But the money of the court will be lost like this."

"Where does the court's money come from?" Fei Hong asked himself, and he answered affirmatively, "Sea. And in the future, it will come in a steady stream, and it will continue to enter Ma Zheng. Unless Daming has no shortage of horses."

Qi Chengsui frowned, "If I don't lack horses, wouldn't what brother Zichong said today be like a dream?"

Fei Hong thought, it seems that these people are not thinking about the emperor, "There is no shortage of horses, and our tea will not be exchanged for their horses!"

They want tea, but of course we need something, and we really feel that the other party has nothing to offer, so send fifty thousand troops to fight for me!Why is your brain so dead!
(End of this chapter)