I'm really not doing business

Chapter 573: Going underground in a physical sense
Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi, the two standard-bearers of the liberal faction, colluded with each other in the great debate of the Wanli Reform and questioned the imperial court, especially the failure of power supervision. The failure of power supervision gave rise to the alienation of power to people. The only difference between them and the inferior Confucian scholars was that they did not question the nature of things.

No matter what mess is going on, it seems that the answer can be found by pushing it onto the system problem, as if the system is the biggest original sin, and as long as the system is solved, all difficult and complicated problems will be solved. This may be another panacea for all diseases. Those who like to ask questions about the system and those who like to follow the system of three generations are actually the same kind of people.

The inferior Confucians believe that as long as they follow the laws of the past three dynasties, all problems can be solved. The question of system structure is similar. As long as the system is changed, all problems can be solved. They all explore problems based on a non-existent, fictitious ideal country. From the very beginning, it is false and lacks practice. In the end, it will become false and cannot be put into practice.

Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi were based on practical experience and specific analysis of specific issues. They did not push all the blame on the court or the emperor. They believed that it was whose problem it was. It was not the court's problem whether the He family of Gaoyang did not reduce rent during a disaster year, the Wang family of Yaoshan and the court official Fan Yingqi occupied government farmland, or the Yan family of Qizhou made compost out of people.

Zhu Yijun supported this kind of practical and honest discussion, although he would occasionally feel angry and annoyed.

Zhang Juzheng read the memorial in his hand for a long time. He leaned back in his chair and gave Wang Qian's memorial to the ministers for circulation. This hot potato finally returned to Zhang Juzheng's hands.

"All criticism without concrete reality is meaningless. It is like drawing a target before shooting an arrow. It is a discussion divorced from reality and is meaningless to the country. The true way of benevolence and forgiveness is always full of storms and blood, as well as crises and hardships."

"Any benevolence and forgiveness that is divorced from reality is the evil of the ignorant. The evil of the ignorant is like an adult baby who knows nothing about the world but wants to criticize it. The evil of the ignorant is stupidity in individuals and disaster for the country and the people in the government." Zhang Juzheng finished reading the last part of the article.

This paragraph was written by Lin Fucheng, in which he criticized the censors of the Ming Dynasty's Censorate for the widespread evil of ignorance. They were adult babies, who, although physically grown up, were still as immature mentally as babies. They were completely self-centered, lacked a sense of rules, were completely immersed in their own world, and constructed their own set of moral standards, which they did not abide by themselves but wanted to constrain others.

This is Lin Fucheng’s accusation.

"This is part of the administration of officials, and it is indeed the important task of the prime minister." As a cabinet minister, Wan Shihe put forward his own opinion. Zhang Juzheng is in charge of the administration of officials, and this is indeed something Zhang Juzheng should be responsible for.

It can't be said that the emperor is making things difficult for the prime minister.

Zhang Juzheng spread his hands and said, "If I had a way to deal with these lowly scholars, I wouldn't be scolded by them every day. It's easy to seek fame and reputation, but if you want to do things, be a law-abiding official, and get promoted based on your achievements, you have to go to the local areas, which is really very hard."

"Actually, I have a good idea." Wang Guoguang looked at the two ministers and whispered, "Let's do this and that."

Wang Guoguang briefly elaborated on his ideas. Zhang Juzheng and Wan Shihe frowned upon hearing them. Zhang Juzheng frowned and said, "This kind of decree comes from the cabinet. I'm afraid we will be scolded again."

"Will we not be scolded if there is no such decree? We are all reformists. In their eyes, we should all be torn into pieces by five horses." Wang Guoguang said indifferently: "Anyway, I have made up my mind. Under the protection of the emperor, I can only hope that His Majesty will take care of our affairs after our death."

Wang Guoguang came up with a solution, which was a whole set of solutions. The summary of this whole set of solutions was actually: follow His Majesty to farm together.

There were countless failed students in the Ming Dynasty. If they failed the imperial examination three times, they could not take it again. Wang Guoguang's method was to give these failed students a chance. As long as they followed His Majesty to farm for two years and passed the inspection of the imperial guards and were confirmed to be actually farming, they could get a chance to take the imperial examination.

Even if such students pass the exam, their future is bleak due to their age. The position of Censor, which has a low position but great power, is most suitable for them. Moreover, because they have gained the opportunity to take the imperial examination through luck, that is, by currying favor with the emperor and flattering him, they are destined to be naturally excluded by other bureaucrats. In this way, the naturally hostile position becomes particularly critical.

The biggest problem with low-ranking scholars is that they do not engage in production, but those who can pass the imperial examination and become Jinshi after farming in the imperial farm for two years are at least people of determination. Coupled with their natural stance, this can greatly change the problem of too many low-ranking scholars and a lack of upright character in the Censorate.

The imperial examination was originally full of candidates, with only 300 candidates in three years, plus the 50 candidates for mathematics, it was only 350 candidates! Now there is another group of students with rich examination experience vying for this opportunity!
It was already curly enough, and now it's even curlier.

It would be strange if Wang Guoguang, who made this suggestion, was not scolded.

Farming means farming on the imperial farm of the Ming Emperor, and in order to prevent students from wasting their lives, His Majesty can only exchange farming for two opportunities to take the imperial examinations. If you still fail, you are not allowed to take the examinations again. Taking the imperial examinations five times and still failing in fifteen years proves that you really don't have the talent.

"Hey, why do I feel that Da Situ has had this plan for a long time?" Wan Shihe listened to Wang Guoguang's explanation of his plan and immediately realized that something was wrong. This was not a spur-of-the-moment idea at all. Wang Guoguang might have been brewing this bad idea for a long time.

"Our emperor is engaged in farming, and there is not a single scholar in the court who can farm. In the future, our ministers of the Wanli Dynasty will only be accused of having no loyalty to the emperor."

"Emperor is so noble that he still feels ashamed for not knowing about farming. How dare those below him to be lazy?" Wang Guoguang calmly answered Wan Shihe's question.

He had this idea a long time ago. Since the first year of the Wanli period, when His Majesty held sweet potatoes and showed that sunny and harvest-filled smile, Wang Guoguang had been thinking about this problem.

Your Majesty is personally engaged in agriculture and sericulture. Your Majesty cultivates only ten acres of land in Xiyuan Baoqisi. How much can Your Majesty produce as a farmer? However, Your Majesty is leading Baoqisi and is truly promoting the rapid development of agronomy. The political statement of personally engaging in agriculture and sericulture has also forced the bureaucrats inside and outside the Ming Dynasty to pay attention to agriculture and sericulture.

"The students who pass the imperial examination through this channel will not thank the Grand Tutor." Wan Shihe said in a low voice, telling Wang Guoguang the result of this memorial entering the palace.

Even if they passed the imperial examination with this hard-earned opportunity, they would not thank Wang Guoguang. They would all think that it was obtained through their own efforts. Even if this upward channel was proposed by Wang Guoguang, they still would not thank him.

Wang Guoguang shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter. Whether they thank me or not, I am still me."

Wang Guoguang has never cared about other people's opinions. If he cared, he would not have broken off all ties with the Jin Party. Wang Guoguang only cares about whether he can complete what he wants to do.

Wan Shihe then nodded and said, "Then let's submit a joint petition."

Wang Guoguang did not submit the memorial alone, but instead brought Zhang Juzheng, Wan Shi and the two cabinet ministers together to discuss the matter in order to submit a joint memorial.

When Zhu Yijun received the joint memorial, he was stunned for a long time. It was originally difficult for Zhang Juzheng and gave him a headache, but it turned out that these ministers actually had a solution.

In fact, there is a better way. Send the censors of the Censorate to the Xishan Coal Bureau to dig coal for two years. This way, there will be fewer empty talkers and despicable scholars.

Out of touch with the earth? Go underground and connect with the earth in a physical sense.

The next morning was sunny, but as the trade winds began to change, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was once again filled with a choking smell of coal smoke. The sunless autumn and winter came again. Zhu Yijun wore a mask and walked on his own landlubbers to the Wenhua Hall to begin his daily court meetings.

After the ministers greeted each other, Zhu Yijun looked at everyone and said, "The Grand Tutor's suggestion is very good, but I plan to bring all the censors from the Censorate to the Xishan Coal Bureau to let them experience the hardships of the kiln dwellers, so that they will naturally understand how difficult production is."

"Going down to the kiln?" Wan Shihe asked in a daze. There are many jobs in the Xishan Coal Bureau, such as clerical work, accounting, agent, co-management and general office of the management, and the hardest manual labor, digging and washing coal in the kiln. Wan Shihe was asking His Majesty whether he wanted to go down to the coal kiln and participate in the front-line production.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "Go to the kiln."

The court officials looked at each other with complicated expressions. It turned out that in terms of ruthlessness and methods of tormenting others, His Majesty's ideas were more... groundbreaking.

Zhang Juzheng stood up and bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I think the Grand Tutor's method is more appropriate. If you are too hasty, you will not achieve the desired effect."

Your Majesty's method does not seem to be intended to solve the problem, but more like to punish, to vent anger, and to vent dissatisfaction.

"I don't have any expectations for them. It's these guys who make the court be pointed at by these pen directors. I don't expect them to change, so there is no question of whether they can meet expectations." Zhu Yijun answered this question calmly. It was for the purpose of punishment, not to make them reform.

Zhu Yijun’s basic attitude towards lowly Confucian scholars is not to have any expectations of them.

Zhang Juzheng looked at Hai Rui. As a senior official of the Censorate, Hai Rui should stand up and say something at this time. He couldn't really send all the censors to dig coal in the Xishan Coal Bureau.

But Hai Rui really said nothing. The hustle and bustle of fetching water in the Censorate was one of the beautiful cultural landscapes of the Ming Dynasty capital. The Censorate lost face in this matter of fetching water, and Hai Rui, the chief censor of the Censorate, had a great resentment towards the lowly Confucian scholars. Anyway, they just sat there all day talking about their character and doing nothing, which might as well be the case with digging coal in the West Hills.

Wang Chonggu waved his hands and said, "Your Majesty, can I not do it? If these people go to Xishan Coal Bureau, Xishan Coal Bureau will not be able to produce. It is already past the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it is the time for every household in Beijing to stock up on coal. These people are dissatisfied with this and that, and they can't do anything, but they have a lot of opinions."

"Your Majesty, Xishan Coal Bureau is not a garbage dump. Your Majesty always goes there and the Xishan Coal Bureau is very clean everywhere. If they go there, it will delay things, right?"

The emperor wanted to give it to Wang Chonggu, but he refused! What kind of thing is this? Is he worthy of training at the Xishan Coal Bureau? He had delayed production, causing the price of coal in the capital to soar. Wang Chonggu didn't want to ask for forgiveness in front of His Majesty. He was an old man, and he really didn't want his reputation to be ruined by these cheap scholars.

"What Wang Ci Fu said makes sense." Zhu Yijun was silent for a moment, but still agreed with Wang Chonggu's statement. Things that are hated by both people and dogs will be a hindrance no matter where they are placed.

Hai Rui sighed heavily and said, "Your Majesty, I was in the Censorate yesterday. At dusk, I received a letter from a ten-year-old child. The child asked me in a very childish tone why I did not advise Your Majesty to shut down the Xishan Coal Bureau."

"He said in the letter: I heard that Hai Rui and Hai Gangfeng are the most outspoken people in the Ming Dynasty, but this is not a good policy. It has been running for nearly ten years. The haze disaster in the capital has been the same for several years, and there has been no outspoken and upright person."

"You say that I am not worthy of the reputation and have only a great reputation. Don't you feel ashamed?" Everyone in Wenhua Hall was silent for a moment, because this person was here for Hai Rui personally, and also for the Ministry of Industry, and it was the same old tune about the pollution of the Xishan Coal Bureau.

"I was so angry that I couldn't sleep yesterday. I was not angry about anything else, but I was angry at these barking and barking people who used the children's mouths to make things happen. I intend to respond publicly." Hai Rui took out a memorial from his sleeve and presented it to the emperor.

It was obvious who was behind this matter. Under the high pressure from the emperor, the officials in Beijing did not dare to make comments on the Xishan Coal Bureau. The people in Beijing needed the coal from the Xishan Coal Bureau for cooking and heating. People would really freeze to death without fire in winter. From the emperor, the top architect, to the poorest coolies, everyone in the Ming Dynasty had no opinion on the Xishan Coal Bureau.

The people who have always had opinions about the Xishan Coal Bureau are the censors.

Now that even such despicable means have been resorted to, it would be safest to find a child to say these words, because when things get out of hand and become unresolvable, we can use the innocent words of a child to fool people and explain them away.

"The causes of the haze in the capital of the Ming Dynasty are extremely complicated. Previously, due to burning firewood, the capital was barren and there was no green at all. The production scale of the Xishan Coal Bureau was not the main cause of the haze. The damage to nature caused by human activities was the main cause. The Royal Institute of Gewu compared all the sunny days from the first year of Wanli in the Imperial Observatory to the present and made this judgment." Zhu Yijun did not read Hai Rui's memorial, but explained the problem of the haze.

Is it that the burning of coal by the Xishan Coal Bureau caused greater environmental pollution, or that the Ming Dynasty capital cut down all the surrounding trees for firewood, causing greater damage to the environment?

How much coal did Xishan Coal Bureau have? Including the honeycomb coal made from coal mixed with loess, the total was 600 million jin, or 350,000 tons of coal. This output was the highest in the world at that time, but it was not much. In the future, a small coal mine in the county could produce millions of tons a year.

The Royal Academy of Sciences conducted a systematic study on the haze disaster in Beijing and found that in recent years, with the sufficient supply of coal, the vegetation in Beijing is recovering rapidly. The clear weather in the capital has been increasing year by year. The production scale of Xishan Coal Bureau has a positive impact on the environment, and not completely negative as the Confucian scholars said.

The response from the Academy of Gewu was not that there was no impact, but that the smog disaster in the capital of the Ming Dynasty for the past three years was caused by the combined causes of coal burning and the failure of vegetation to recover.

Zhu Yijun explained the latest research results of the Royal Academy of Studies before opening Hai Rui's memorial.

Hai Rui's response is to confront head-on and never back down.

After expressing his support for the Xishan Coal Bureau, he directly directed his criticism at the adults hiding behind the children.

Zhu Yijun read Hai Rui's reply: "Every 1,000 kilograms of coal dug out can create a day's work opportunity for at least ten kiln dwellers, and behind these ten kiln dwellers are ten families, ten wives and thirty children, who can all have food to eat that day. The Xishan Coal Bureau pays more than 40% of its profits to the court every year, and the court uses this money to repair bridges and roads, to invest in more government factories, to provide more people with livelihoods, and to build more three-level schools so that children from poor families can also read and learn to read."

"As for those who instructed this child to write the letter, if they have something to say, they can just say it directly to his face. There is no need to hide. A real man always walks in a square way, openly and honestly. Why do you have to be so sneaky and hide your head and show your tail?"

Because it is a reply to the child, the content is written in colloquial language and is simple and clear.

Zhu Yijun closed the memorial and said with a frown, "It seems that we really need to let them go underground to connect with the earth. It is simply abominable to use the mouths of children to attack others."

Zhu Yijun lost his last bit of patience with the prevalent lowly Confucian scholars in the Censorate.

In fact, it is not uncommon to say what you want to say through the mouths of children. Various widely circulated nursery rhymes are based on this, such as the Kyoto nursery rhyme in the late years of Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty, "The Marquis is not a Marquis, the King is not a King, Thousands of chariots and horses ascend to Beimang."

This kind of nursery rhyme, known as political prophecy, has existed since the Qin Dynasty.

This practice continued until the Ming Dynasty. For example, during the Zhengde period, when Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao was about to rebel, he circulated a nursery rhyme: If Jiangxi wants to rebel, the only way is for the clams to have eyes. At that time, children in Nanchang Prefecture generally liked to grind a hole in the clams and put them on their hands to play with. The spread of this nursery rhyme was a preparation for the rebellion.

Prince Ning's ambitious rebellion encountered Wang Yangming, and the rebellion lasted for a month. Before Emperor Wuzong had the chance to lead the army in person, the rebellious Prince Ning was captured alive by Wang Yangming.

Obviously, political rumors and Soviet jokes have the same purpose, which is to stir up public opinion, and it is also a very common method.

Hai Rui's approach was actually very unwise. The most correct thing for him to do was to ignore it, but if he ignored it, he would not be Hai Rui anymore.

It was not appropriate to send it to the Xishan Coal Bureau. Wang Chonggu, the general manager of the Xishan Coal Bureau, had already expressed his dislike, and delaying production was not a good thing. After much deliberation, Zhu Yijun decided to open the eyes of the lowly Confucian scholars of the Ming Dynasty.

"Yesterday I received a memorial from Shen Yikuan, saying that the owners of the manure channels in Renshoufang in the east city were constantly arguing over the channels. So, let them carry the manure. If the Censorate is not cleaned up, it will become a septic tank." Zhu Yijun thought for a while and decided to find some work for these lowly scholars. After carrying water, Zhu Yijun assigned them the job of carrying manure.

Zhu Yijun was directly standing up for Hai Rui. Zhang Juzheng commented on Hai Rui, saying that he would survive if he bent. Hai Rui was too stubborn and it was easy for him to break in officialdom.

Not now, the Ming Emperor, the sword-bearer, is already young and strong, so Hai Rui can charge forward without worry, with the Ming Emperor escorting him from behind!
All the court officials felt as if they were going to go dark before their eyes. When it came to insulting civility, His Majesty could always think of all kinds of interesting and effective ways. If they were really arranged to carry manure, then these censors might as well just die in the manure pit.

"Why do you think it's excessive? Then we have to talk about the Southern Han Dynasty. Liu Jixing, the last emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty, issued an edict that only people within the family could be given official positions. People within the family were eunuchs who had taken off their bells. If they didn't castrate themselves, they couldn't be officials. The scholar-officials simply waved their hands and castrated themselves, becoming eunuchs and continuing to be officials." Feng Bao said calmly: "This is nothing, it's not a difficult thing, it's just carrying manure."

Feng Bao reminded the court officials that what His Majesty said was not excessive. It was just a matter of picking up manure, and it did not require them to do anything with a knife. It was not a big deal.

"Your Majesty, please let the censors of the Censorate come to the Xishan Coal Bureau in batches." Wang Chonggu looked left and right. He was the only one who could save the censors of the Censorate. If he went to the Xishan Coal Bureau, he could also go under the banner of going deep into the government-owned factories to control coal smoke, which would not be too embarrassing.

Although Wang Chonggu was not afraid of being scolded, he also did not want to be scolded every day. After all, they were of the same class and they needed to maintain their proper dignity.

When the emperor wanted to lift the roof, Wang Chonggu agreed to open the window.

"They still have to go down to the kiln. In order not to delay the work of the Censorate, we will divide them into five groups and rotate them every two days. We will do this for three months to see the effect." Wang Chonggu gave a specific system. It was not that the censors had to go down to the mine every day, but they had to go. At least they had to deeply understand the hardships of the kiln dwellers so as not to waste your majesty's hard work.

According to Li Zhi and Lin Fucheng, the reason why the lowly Confucian scholars have a kind of ignorant evil is that they do not engage in production and do not expect these literati to produce much, but at least they want the literati to know that goods do not grow on the shelves.

"Okay, let's do as Wang Ci Fu says." After hearing this, Zhu Yijun did not insist and chose to approve the plan proposed by Wang Chonggu.

Zhu Yijun's plan is a short-term plan, while Wang Guoguang's plan is a long-term plan. There is no conflict between them, and the court highly approves of Wang Guoguang's plan.

Wang Chonggu began to report on each of the major construction projects of the Ming Dynasty, including the bell and drum tower of the main government office, the second phase of the Royal Polytechnic Institute project, the construction of the Suiyuan Expressway, the Beijing-Kaifeng Expressway, the preparation for the construction of the Tianjin-Mizhou Expressway, the repair of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, etc. The Ministry of Works followed closely and reported on the progress of the Feiyun, mainly some technical improvements in the propeller.

"Governor of Shandong and Henan and Minister of War Ling Yunyi submitted a memorial saying that the equal distribution of land and labor service should be tried in Henan." Wang Guoguang took out Ling Yunyi's memorial. Henan was making progress in all aspects, surveying the land, taking a census of the adult population, abolishing the status of slaves, building government factories and organizing engineering corps. Although it started slowly, it was moving fast and was ahead of everyone else.

The request for equal distribution of land and labor service was first proposed by Tang Long, the Minister of War in the 11th year of Jiajing. However, due to the situation at that time, it was not implemented. It was later dug out from an old case by Wang Chonggu, who completed the system design by supplementing it with land measurement and a census of the population, but it just remained a system design.

Equalizing the field and labor service means incorporating the four taxes and levies into the land area. All kinds of exorbitant taxes and levies in various places under the guise of corvée labor will be swept into the garbage dump by the equalizing the field and labor service. Because the output of the land is limited, once the tax rate is determined, it will take hundreds of years to change it.

"Tang Ling's pace is still too big, and he is a little too hasty. This matter is not urgent." Zhu Yijun said after reading Ling Yunyi's memorial: "I know that Tang Ling is loyal to the emperor and the country, but we should focus on consolidating the results. First, we should get the official factory and the engineering corps ready, and then talk about the equalization of land and labor service."

Zhu Yijun chose to be conservative.

"I think so too. It's a bit too hasty." Zhang Juzheng said immediately: "There are two disadvantages in governing. The first is that impatient people demand results as soon as they start to work. This is the disadvantage of haste. A gentleman must implement things gradually when governing. He should not hastily seek immediate results. The second is that shallow and narrow-minded people are accustomed to the short-term and ignorant of the long-term. This is the disadvantage of seeing the small. A gentleman must have a broad mind when governing. He should not think that he has achieved something just by seeing small achievements."

“Nothing in the world is more successful than a gradual process.”

The greatest drawback of governing is to be hasty and to only see the small and ignore the long-term. This was the principle Zhang Juzheng talked about when he gave a history lecture in the second year of the Wanli reign.

"I think what Ling Bu Tang requested is not urgent." Wang Chonggu still gritted his teeth and sang a different tune from the emperor and the prime minister. In fact, he still did not agree to return the land, and was more inclined to equalize the land and labor service and distribute the tax according to the acreage.

In the 11th year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty court issued an additional 100 boat permits and collected another one million acres of government farmland. The total amount of government farmland collected by boat permits reached four million acres.

"As far as the current situation in Henan is concerned, there won't be any trouble. After the highway is completed, there will be even less trouble." Wang Chonggu reminded His Majesty that the highway from Beijing to the expressway, in which the Ming Emperor invested 1400 million silver coins in the first phase and a total investment of million silver coins, was not built for show. After the highway was opened to traffic, Wang Chonggu still didn't believe that these powerful and wealthy people were not afraid of the sharp knife of the Beijing camp.

Even Wang Chonggu is afraid of him!
When Li Rusong arrived in Baoding Prefecture, none of the 604 dike owners in Baoding opposed the demolition of the dike walls. All of them supported it. A total of 230 dike owners were willing to sacrifice their property and support the construction of the Chidao Road.

Direct military threats are more effective than anything else. Criticism of weapons is the most intuitive criticism. In places where there are no roads, engineering regiments and battalions should not be widely present. This is a prerequisite for preventing feudalization. In places where there are roads, it is actually okay to take bigger steps.

Wang Chonggu's words were very bold, equivalent to directly scolding the emperor and Zhang Juzheng: You are so timid, why are you still carrying out the New Deal! Why are you still carrying out the Wanli Reform!
"But once there is trouble, it is not a small one," Zhang Juzheng said immediately.

(End of this chapter)