I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 832 They are no longer the protagonists of the era

A waiter from the post station stood next to him, neither humble nor arrogant.

"Sir, from what you said, Gujie Post Station is of course a Ming Post Station, and of course it is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Transport General Administration."

The handsome face of the male servant was distorted with a ferocious look, and he continued to roar while spitting saliva: "Since it is a post station of the Ming Dynasty and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, then why can't my young master use the military permit in his hand?"

"My dear brother, what year is this in the almanac?

During the Longqing period, the imperial court issued an edict to restructure the post stations. The internal titles given by the Ministry of War in the capital and the external titles given by the Ministry of War in Nanjing and various provincial governors' offices were all discontinued and used as letters of introduction to various offices.

In the first year of the Wanli reign, the imperial court issued another decree to reform the post stations, allowing officials and civilians to share the post stations and pay for their own expenses. For official business trips that were approved, the travel expenses would be reimbursed by the various government offices.

This matter has been published in many issues of the "Huang Ming Dynasty Newspaper", "China Political Newspaper", and various provincial political newspapers. You can see at a glance that you are a scholar, so has he not read the newspaper?"

The male servant was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look at his own master, straightened his neck and continued, "My master is devoted to studying and doesn't read newspapers on weekdays.

I don’t read these messed up newspapers either.”

You said that "Huang Ming Dynasty Newspaper" and "China Political Newspaper" are messy newspapers. You are so bold to say such nonsense.

"It doesn't matter if you don't read the newspaper. But you can't be unaware of the changes in the world."

"What the world is changing has nothing to do with us! My son holds the Military Department's seal. Is it possible that the seal on it is fake?"

"Sir, that's hard to say. I have limited knowledge and cannot tell the truth from the false."

The male servant was so angry that his face turned blue, and he waved his hands hysterically, "What do you mean? Do you dare to say that my young master is a liar? Do you know who my master is? If you offend our young master, do you still want to open this post station?"

The waiter laughed and said, "No matter if I know who your master is, the sun will still rise. No matter if your young master is happy or not, the sun will still set."

The male servant was stunned, his Adam's apple trembled up and down, and the young man in brocade clothes looked dark, "What did you say? What do you mean by that?"

The servant next to him seemed to be whipped, jumping up and down and yelling, "What are you doing? Do you want to bully our young master?
Let me tell you, my master was a Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing, and he was in the same class as Li Gelao and Zhang Xiang, and he also served as a governor. A visiting card can shut down your Gujie Post Station and send you to jail!"

Seeing the waiter standing there without saying anything, the young master in brocade clothes's face gradually turned red, his eyes full of uncontrollable pride, and he said to the servant in a reserved manner: "Don't mention the master's name, it makes my family look like bullying."

He turned to the post station clerk and said, "Since you know my family's background, you naturally know that this certificate from the Ministry of War is a legitimate one. It was given to me by the housekeeper of my uncle's house when I visited him in the capital.

"My uncle is one of the Nine Ministers, how could he give it away so carelessly? You should stop trying to deceive your superiors and fool outsiders and take this certificate to be cancelled."

After some discussion, everyone understood, and the same thought arose in their minds.

Where did the mallet come from?

He actually used the Ministry of War's Kanhe to eat and drink for free?

Could it be that he had been hiding in the mountains for ten years and didn't know that the new rules had been introduced in the Wanli Dynasty?
Li Xuan was also very curious and asked softly, "Master Shu, Brother Ren, this post station has been out of service for several years, why is there still someone sending him, what does it mean?"

Ren Boan and Shu Youliang looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

Shu Youliang took a sip of wine and said, "This young man's father must have fallen from grace. So what if he was a Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing? The former Prime Minister Xu's house in Songjiang Prefecture was confiscated.

The steward of his uncle's house must be a snob and a petty person who would take advantage of others and deliberately tease and humiliate him.

But this young master and his servant are ignorant of worldly affairs and current affairs, and they are still showing off with an old almanac from ten years ago. "

When Li Xuan heard this, he thought it made sense.

"Privately giving away Kanhe and using public tools for private purposes was a common practice in the imperial court and could not be stopped despite repeated prohibitions. I have also heard that the Ministry of War in the two capitals and provincial governors and inspectors in various places would give Kanhe to their relatives and nephews, and then to their old friends and descendants. In the end, almost anyone who could get close to them would be given a Kanhe.

Anyway, the expenses are borne by the court, but the favors are your own.

As a result, countless children of officials, famous scholars and great men of letters were able to travel around the world for free with the Kanhe permit. If they ran out of money, they could even use the power of others to extort money for the journey.

The post stations across the country cost a lot of money, and all of it was levied on the local people in the form of heavy taxes, which made them suffer terribly. It was in view of this harm that the emperor made up his mind to carry out a thorough reform and implemented the new law. "

Li Xuan is right.

The huge loopholes in the post station system were extremely detrimental to the Ming Dynasty, which had a chaotic financial system and tight taxation.
If history had gone normally, a few decades later, there would have been a Xu Xiake in Jiangyin, Nanzhili, who traveled all over the Ming Dynasty and wrote the famous "Xu Xiake's Travels", leaving his name in history.

Xu Xiake failed in the imperial examinations many times and didn't even pass the exam to become a scholar. He was so depressed that he decided to travel around to relieve his mood.

Since he is not an official and has no official title, why can he travel around for free?
Because he came from the Xu family of Jiangyin, a famous family in the south of the Yangtze River, his father and grandfather were both famous scholars in the southeast, and there were no ordinary people among his friends and relatives. Many of his friends and relatives were officials and were spread all over the country.

No matter where you go, you can establish relationships with local officials and governors and inspectors.

Being able to eat and drink for free at the post station was not a big deal. Xu Xiake could get an official badge through local officials and recruit laborers at any time.

What is most speechless is that Xu Xiake's enjoyment of such treatment was considered commonplace at the time, because he was a member of the scholar class and was qualified to enjoy these privileges.

In his Travel Notes, Xu Xiake himself recorded that when he was in Guilin, Guangxi, he knew there was a scenic spot in Yangshuo, so he decided to take his servants with him to travel there.

However, the mountains there were high and the roads were long, making it very difficult to travel, so he asked the local official for an official certificate and recruited ten laborers and two horses on the spot to carry his sedan chair and check in his luggage.

But that was during the Chongzhen period, when natural disasters and man-made calamities continued and the world was in decline.

The young and strong men in the nearby villages either fled or were forcibly conscripted by the government, and the village head and the local security guards were simply unable to recruit enough young and strong men to serve as laborers.

Xu Xiake doesn't care. If you delay my sightseeing, I will send a visiting card to the county government office and ask the county magistrate to beat you with a stick.

The village head and the local security guard were forced into a corner and had no choice but to conscript several old men and women from the village to make up a total of ten people. They also borrowed a sedan chair and carried Xu Xiake and his luggage on the road.

The mountains are high and the forests are dense, making the journey difficult.

The conscripted laborers on the road were complaining and tried to escape, leaving their luggage behind. Xu Xiake ordered his servants to whip the disobedient laborers severely, and finally made them behave themselves.

Xu Xiake and his servant traveled happily for several days and recorded the beautiful scenery, letting the world know about Guilin's Elephant Trunk Hill and the beauty of Yangshuo.

It was precisely because of this knowledge of history, coupled with Li Zicheng's experience, that Zhu Yijun deeply detested the officials, their families, and the scholars and Confucian scholars across the country who formed groups to fleece the post stations.

He looked down upon Zhang Juzheng's patchwork reform measures and simply tore down the entire post station system and established a new one.

As his uncle, Li Xuan often studied and practiced archery with him. He must have heard relevant words and was deeply influenced by them. Shu Youliang nodded and said, "That's exactly what Li Dalang said.

The post stations in the past were indeed rotten. My master was the magistrate of Chun'an, Zhejiang, and he knew the hardships of the post stations and the evils of extortion.

We are determined to rectify the situation, crack down on the abuse of the system, and prohibit random apportionment, but it is of no use.
The emperor must have the courage to tear down the dilapidated house and rebuild it."

Everyone nodded in agreement thoughtfully.

The sneering waiter standing over there was too lazy to talk nonsense with the master and servant of the club. "You two, whether you go to hand in your visiting card or ask the local officials for punishment, the money for today's meal and your accommodation cannot be reduced by a penny."

The young man in brocade clothes was at a loss when he saw that the waiter was not interested.

The male servant beside him was even more daring. He jumped up and was about to hit someone, but was slapped back to his place by the waiter.

"You also know that this post station is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War? You still dare to eat a free meal here! Do you really think we are just pushovers? Lao Liu, have the security team arrived yet?"

As he was speaking, four people came in, led by Yan Dafu.

"Where? Where? There are still people who dare to eat for free at the post station these days!"

"here!"

Yan Dafu and his men took the master and servant away rudely.

The waiter clasped his fists and looked around at everyone, "Dear guests, sorry to bother you. It's quiet now, please continue with your meal."

The waiter cleaned up the table, invited the new customer to sit down, took the order, and after a while of busy work, he turned around and was stopped by Shu Youliang.

"Brother, aren't you afraid that the two people who took the Kanhe just now are really officials?"

The fellow laughed and said, "Brother, an official would never use the Kanhe to scare people.

During the Longqing reign, some people used this method to deceive people, but some were arrested and severely punished. After the Wanli reign, no official used the Kanhe to scare people.

Don't even think about trying to fool people with Kanhe. If he dares to eat and drink for free at the post station, we will report it to the higher-ups, and the Central Supervisory Office of the Censorate or the Provincial Procuratorate will invite him for tea.

The higher-ups are keeping a close eye on us.”

"I see!"

The people at the surrounding tables also heard it and exclaimed in praise.

"This is a good change made by the Wanli New Deal. Otherwise, the local government would be affected by the free food and drink at the post station every year, and it would be a big loss."

"That's right. Everyone knows who the people who were able to get the Kanhe in the past were. These guys really want to take advantage of us!"

Everyone has a scale in their hearts. Anyone with a discerning eye can see the harm that the post stations have brought to the Ming Dynasty, and it is the common people who suffer.

Talking about the connection with the post station, someone mentioned the major case in Henan.

"This is a major case in Henan, involving more than 20 counties and thousands of people. Tsk tsk, how dare these people be so bold! They even alarmed Hai Qingtian and Governor Osprey."

"I'm afraid these bastards in Henan are going to get into big trouble."

"It would be best if all these corrupt officials were killed."

Everyone present started cursing.

"How could such a big case happen in Henan? Henan is a place in the Central Plains where the people are simple and honest."

"So what if the people are simple and honest? The common people live a hard life. How many vassal kings were enfeoffed there in the past?"

"That's right, the vassal kings are tigers, and the ones below are a bunch of jackals and wolves, taking advantage of the tiger's might and bullying others. Your Majesty is wise, and he has eliminated a group of them, and invited the rest of the vassal kings to the capital.

"We killed some of the cannibalistic accomplices, but some of them are still left behind. What should we do if these people don't change their bad habits? They will just go back to their old ways."

The Shandong merchant leaned forward and said mysteriously, "I knew something was going to happen in Henan a long time ago."

Everyone asked curiously: "Brother, why do you say that?"

"Shandong is adjacent to Henan. Henan has its own vassal kings, and so do we in Shandong. We also have the Confucius Mansion, a local household that has been around for thousands of years. Originally, the situation in Shandong was similar to that in Henan.

I heard that the Bureau of Repentance and Reconciliation was introduced from Shandong."

Several merchants nearby couldn't help but give a thumbs up: "It's worthy of being the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, it's so exquisite."

“Haha, that’s not the case.

All the scholars in Shandong are of the same character. To be honest, in those two years, the situation in Shandong was not much better than that in Henan."

"That"

As he was speaking, Yan Dafu brought people to send the master and servant back, and reprimanded them in public.

Everyone could hear it clearly through the screen.

"Honestly, the post station has food and shelter for you. The days of holding a piece of paper and expecting free food and drink are over. Open your eyes and see clearly that this world is now the new Wanli Dynasty!"

The master and servant hung their heads, dejected, and obediently endured Yan Dafu's lecture, not daring to say a single word in reply.

After Yan Dafu finished his lecture, he and his men left in a hurry.

The master and servant, who were scolded like grandsons, did not dare to come over. They covered their faces with their sleeves and left, returning to their own rooms.

Shu Youliang shook his head and sighed, “These guys are still as arrogant and ignorant as ever, but they don’t know that in this new era, there is no place for them anymore.

These two idiots should now understand that they are no longer the protagonists of the new era."

(End of this chapter)