I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 142 Master Zhang, this won’t work!

Xiyuan Xi'an Gate.

The row of tiled houses where the ministers were previously on duty, ready to write poems for Emperor Jiajing at any time, became vacant after Yuan Wei retired and returned to his hometown, and now it has become the office of the Military Affairs Supervisory Office.

This government office, which was much criticized by the court and the public, remained standing after hundreds of censors and upright officials attacked it with the magic of "impeachment memorials" for more than a month.

If fighting with force doesn’t work, then let’s fight with words.

Hundreds of civil servants wrote letters to tell their fellow students, colleagues, and fellow townsmen in various places that they must adopt non-violent non-cooperation measures against government offices like the Supervisory Office.

All its imperial edicts are nonsense and we will never execute them!

But just as Zhang Juzheng predicted, the Supervisory Office had its own piece of land.

It doesn't want to control what it can't control.

The areas it controls now are all the territories of the Taisun Party.

It was just that we used to communicate through the Advisory Office via private messages.

Now we are following the emperor's orders to communicate openly, report situations and issue orders in accordance with official customs.

Zhu Xizhong, the most competent tool man in the Jiajing Dynasty, would never show up when he was not needed.

In the signing room of the Supervisory Office, Zhu Yijun discussed with Zhao Zhenji, Xu Wei and Li Zhi the situation of the Shandong horse administration reform reported by Zhang Juzheng from Jinan.

"According to the last statistics in the 30th year of Jiajing, the Imperial Household Department was located in the four prefectures of Qingzhou, Jinan, Dongchang, and Yanzhou in Shandong Province, with 53,000 horse-breeding households and 9,300 hectares of horse farm land."

Li Zhi read Zhang Juzheng's memorial.

Zhang Juzheng's memorial on Shandong's horse policy was sent directly to the Tongzhengsi and Silijian, with a copy to the Cabinet. Because horse policy was a military matter, Silijian sent a copy to the Supervisory Office.

Zhu Yijun waved his hand to signal Li Zhi to pause, and asked his "confidential secretary" Nangong Ye, "Mr. Nangong, according to the documents copied by the Imperial Household Department, how many horse households and horse farms should there be in Shandong?"

"Your Highness, according to the documents of the Imperial Household Department in the seventh year of Jiajing, there are 170,000 horse farmers in Qingzhou, Jinan, Dongchang, and Yanzhou, and 47,000 hectares of horse farm land."

Zhu Yijun let out a long sigh.

The three pillars of military preparation for the northern border were carefully designed by Emperor Taizu: the garrisons, the horse administration, and the grain transport.

First, protect the source of soldiers, second, protect the war horses, and third, protect the food and fodder.

It was already riddled with holes, to the point where it had to be changed.

As for the garrisons, he made up for the lame leg by training new troops; as for the grain transport, he eased the problem by using sea transportation; as for the horse policy, he persuaded the emperor to agree to peace talks with Altan Khan, to open border trade, to obtain a source of good horses, and then to carry out reforms.

During the "teacher-student interaction" with himself, Zhang Juzheng also realized the huge loopholes in the three pillars of northern defense, and then chose Ma Zheng to take the lead.

He is indeed Xu Laoyin's favorite student. He chose Ma Zheng, the simplest and least risky option, at the first election.

In your pragmatic nature, learn to be tactful to a quarter.

It’s just that Teacher Zhang, you are different from Lord Xu.

Lord Xu lay completely still. He saw everything clearly, but he said nothing and did nothing. He tried to protect himself and make a smooth transition.

Teacher Zhang, you have to do practical things after all.

Once you do something practical, you will inevitably offend people. If you want to achieve great things, you will never be able to be smooth.

I hope the Shandong horse policy issue can give you some understanding.

"It's so shocking!" Zhao Zhenji exclaimed on the side.

He guessed that Shandong's horse administration was a mess, but he never expected it to be so bad that it broke his bottom line.

According to statistics from the 30th year of the Jiajing reign, most of the horse households and horse farms had been encroached upon. After more than a decade, I am afraid that not even a dregs of them would be left.

No wonder the Minister of the Imperial Household Department wanted to burn down the warehouse in the side courtyard of Jinan Prefecture.

It has to be burned. How can such a big hole be filled?

They simply burned it down and put an end to it all. However, the Shandong officials never expected that their move of cutting off the source of the trouble would not stump Zhang Juzheng at all, but he outwitted them instead.

Burned all the account books?
Since it's burned, let's re-check the number of horse households and measure the farm land. He has the support of the imperial court (the crown prince), so he has both people and money.

But once he checked and measured, what was originally just a matter in the account books would become actual evidence of a crime.

As a result, the Shandong officialdom took emergency action and launched a "public relations campaign" against Zhang Juzheng.

"I did not expect that the one who represented the officials and people of Shandong to negotiate peace with Master Zhang would be the Duke of Yansheng, Kong Shangxian. But after thinking about it carefully, it makes sense.

The Kong family was the largest landlord in Shandong, and with the title of Duke of Yansheng, they must have gotten the most benefits from the division of horse power. It was no surprise that he came out to talk.

Mr. Zhuo Wu, continue reading Master Zhang's memorial."

"Yes!" Li Zhi continued to read.

Zhang Juzheng pointed out in his memorial that according to the regulations during the Yongle period, Shandong's horse policy should have registered 195,000 horse households and 54,000 hectares of horse farm land.

However, it has now been completely divided up by Shandong noble families. Some horse owners have been tenants for three generations, and the horse farms have been cultivated for hundreds of years, so it has long been a mess.

It is already impossible to return Ma Zheng to his post.

Zhang Juzheng suggested that according to the imperial court's regulations, the four prefectures of Shandong should provide 5,800 horses every year. It would be better to collect 12 taels of silver for each horse, and 2 taels of silver for fodder, totaling 14 taels of silver, a total of 81,200 taels of silver, and go to the border to buy good horses outside the Great Wall to make up for the shortfall.
Zhao Zhenji stroked his beard and said slowly: "The meaning of Uncle Da's change in horse policy is very clear. All horse households and horse farms will be abolished, and all the money will be converted into silver for collection, and then horses will be purchased from outside the country.

In this way, the accumulated malpractices in horse management can be eliminated. Horse management has lasted for hundreds of years and has become a chronic disease that is difficult to reverse. It has caused suffering to the people, and the court has no horses to use, which only enriches the local noble families.

Zhu Yijun smiled faintly, "Mr. Dazhou agrees. Mr. Wenchang, Mr. Zhuo Wu, what are your opinions?"

Li Zhi and Xu Wei looked at each other and asked Xu Wei to speak first.

"Your Highness, the horse tax is levied in silver, which is simple and clear. But I am worried that now we have negotiated with Altan Khan and opened border trade. But ten or twenty years later, what if the people behind Altan Khan turn against the Ming Dynasty, block the border and stop trading horses.

Then the wars continued, and our war horses became fewer and fewer. When the situation became urgent, what should we do? "

Zhu Yijun nodded: "Only when there is surplus food at home can one be at ease. Only when the army has spare horses can the morale of the army be stable. Master Zhang only calculated the current economic account, but did not calculate the long-term economic account and the political account.

Mr. Nangong, please take note of this and reply to Master Zhang at the same time."

"Yes."

"Mr. Zhuo Wu, what about you?"

Li Zhi is now becoming more and more confident.

Xu Wei was not even a scholar, yet he could be so high-spirited. Why can't I, a mere juren, be able to do the same?
"What Governor Zhang meant in his memorial was to ask the local noble families who had privately divided Ma Zheng's money to pay the money. But Li thought that the local noble families had to pay the money under pressure this year, but what about next year, the year after, and every year thereafter?
They will definitely not pay any more. The local noble families will collude with local officials and put the blame on the people in the end."

Zhu Yijun put his hands in his sleeves and sneered twice: "There is no doubt about this."

Li Zhi waited for a few seconds and continued, "At the beginning, Governor Zhang discussed with us about reforming the horse policy, one is to allow the border troops to have war horses, and the other is to reduce the burden on the people.

Now only the first goal has been achieved, and as Mr. Wen Chang said, there may be twists and turns in the future. As for the second goal, to reduce the burden on the people, it has not been achieved. Instead, it has made the people of Shandong pay an extra levy for no reason. "

Zhu Yijun turned to Nangong Ye and said, "Mr. Nangong, write it down."

"There are so many problems with horse management. How can we solve them all at once? During the Hongzhi period, the number of horse breeders registered in the Imperial Household Department exceeded 680,000, and the number of horse farms exceeded 160,000 hectares. How many are left now? Are there any left?

How to solve the two problems that Mr. Wenchang and Mr. Zhuo Wu are worried about?

There is also the border army's pension system, which is integrated with the horse policy and must be resolved together, but how to solve it?

Haha, Master Zhang is intelligent, thoughtful, alert, well-informed, and willing to take on responsibilities. But he is too conceited and arrogant, just like Gao Xinzheng.

Mr. Nangong, write all this down, sort it out and send it to Master Zhang, so that he can think about it carefully!"

"Yes."

Zhao Zhenji asked from the side: "Your Highness, what is the rule of the pile of silver?"

(End of this chapter)