My father is Jiajing

Although Emperor Jiajing was extremely sensitive and concerned about finance and taxation, his understanding of the deep-seated economic operating rules was still relatively backward and conservative.

They are still thinking in a traditional way, and are still thinking about the economic model based on how much land the Ming Dynasty cultivated last year and how much tax it can collect this year.

The good thing about this model is that it is simple and clear, and can clearly predict how much tax the court will collect in the coming year.

However, in actual economic operations, this simple model does not work at all.

How much grain the land can produce is something that even the emperor cannot tell for sure. Moreover, no matter whether it is the wealthy families, the landlords and gentry, or the common people who only cultivate a small piece of land, after obtaining the wealth produced by the land, no one is willing to pay taxes on the wealth they have worked hard to earn.

So although the taxes on this land seem to be fixed, they are actually very difficult to collect.

Moreover, the people who can be taxed are almost all powerless common people. These people have no officials to back them up, nor any noble families to rely on.

However, the taxes that the imperial court had to collect every year were fixed, so these taxes could only be collected from the common people. The gentry and landlords were unwilling to pay the taxes, so they had to pay them. The deficits caused by local governments had to be filled with the wealth accumulated by the common people with great difficulty.

Therefore, in this situation, even if the court could collect all taxes according to the optimistic budget, the other problems it would face next would be so numerous that it would be overwhelming.

Moreover, before the end of the dynasty, the imperial court and local governments could not really force the common people to death, and they had to provide a way out for these poor common people.

Therefore, sometimes the tax arrears of local governments would accumulate to a suspicious figure, but the imperial court could not really settle the tax arrears with people one by one.

Because this is simply a confusing account that cannot be settled. If you really try to settle it, it will definitely provoke popular unrest, allowing a small number of bad people with ulterior motives to take the opportunity to incite public opinion, divert hatred, and subvert the world.

So in this situation, the practice throughout the ages has been to use various forms of amnesty to clear these tax arrears.

Just like Zhu Zaigui's enthronement edict some time ago, he had to follow the old precedent and exempt all kinds of miscellaneous taxes accumulated in the local areas over the 45 years of Jiajing, giving the people of the world new hope.

Otherwise, the people of the world would think that this newly enthroned emperor is nothing? He doesn't even have the grace to grant amnesty to the world! How can people live in the future?
So whether it is done against one's will or in order to win the goodwill and hearts of the people of the world, these inexplicable miscellaneous taxes must be exempted across the board!

Then began the fine tradition of "a new dynasty, a new atmosphere, a new account".

But is this kind of reincarnation really a panacea?

If this were true, the Han Dynasty, which was the first to invent general amnesty throughout the country, would not have collapsed.

It can be seen that this kind of amnesty can only delay some problems that are about to explode, but it does not really solve the problems.

Therefore, in the middle of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court was clearly aware that the taxes and grain collected from the fields alone could not meet the needs of the court and maintain the army.

Therefore, at this time, after a very in-depth political and economic meeting, Huo Guang and other political elites decided to borrow some of the economic ideas of Guan Zhong, a good minister of Qi State hundreds of years ago, and started the salt and iron monopoly, establishing a model in which the court controlled the main economic lifeline.

A new approach to economic governance began, but it has been more than 1,700 years since Huo Guang first came up with this idea. Various dynasties have made endless patches and repairs, but it has never gone beyond this scope.

Therefore, even in the Longqing era 1,700 years later, its economic model was actually not much different from that of the Han Dynasty 1,700 years ago.

If we have to say there is a difference, it may be that the management model has changed, but the essence remains unchanged.

Therefore, if he wanted to make a breakthrough and gain more economic growth and economic vitality, Zhu Zaigui could only use some methods that have been proven effective by later generations to use the visible hand of the court to activate the invisible hand that has always existed but has never played the ultimate role.

Then he took both hands into his own hands, so that he could more easily release greater vitality in the Ming Dynasty's economy and embark on a new path of development.

Of course, this road is not destined to be smooth sailing, because Zhu Zaigui also knows very well that Europe, which had taken this path first, had also been caught in fierce struggles for hundreds of years due to disputes over interests.

Many traditional and emerging European aristocrats and upstarts fell in this dispute over interests, and even many kings and emperors were sent to the guillotine.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui was very clear that there has never been an easy change in this world, and the killing and crisis brought about by any change are also infinite.

Even if you have ready-made homework to copy, it is not certain that you can copy out a satisfactory answer sheet.

Therefore, you still have to walk your own path and explore it slowly on your own. You cannot impatiently copy the so-called successful experiences.

After all, the historical contexts of many successful experiences are different.

It is like some experiences that work well in the industrial age when there is electricity and light, but may not work well in the feudal age when there is no electricity and light.

If you want these experiences to be useful, the first thing you need to do is to gradually advance the environment without electricity and light to the industrial age with electricity and light.

Otherwise, if you blindly mess around, thinking that successful experiences are good, and then ignore the actual environmental conditions and copy them, big problems will definitely arise.

So all the changes that Zhu Zaigui wants to make now seem bold, but in fact they are all cautious. They have never been truly rolled out, and are only carried out within the scope of his power and influence.

It is just like the Shunyi Industrial Park at the beginning, the Beijing Special Economic Zone later, and the reconstruction work in the north carried out with the help of the Huazhou earthquake crisis.

Now a large number of the aristocratic families in Jiangnan have been dealt with in the Jiangnan case some time ago, which is also a perfect opportunity for Jiangnan to be in a vacuum of local power.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui wanted to strike while the iron was hot to divide Jiangnan and split Southern Zhili into four parts, setting up Zhili Yingtian Prefecture, Zhili Shanghai Prefecture, as well as Jiangsu Provincial Administration and Anhui Provincial Administration.

As long as Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui can establish these new administrative divisions in the Jiangnan region in the next period of time and strictly implement the land measurement policy implemented in some areas of Jiangnan.

Then within a few years, Zhu Zaigui would definitely be able to recover all the power that was once lost in the hands of local and clan forces in the Jiangnan region.

Then, new financial reforms will be implemented in the most prosperous areas of Jiangnan, connecting the direct financial relations of these areas to the financial and taxation offices of the imperial court, achieving point-to-point control and jurisdiction.

Of course, all of this is based on the successful tax reform.

Otherwise, we will continue to collect taxes in kind as before, and it will be impossible to carry out this kind of point-to-point fiscal reform.

Therefore, at this time, Zhu Zaigui could let Zhang Juzheng implement the "One Whip Law" proposed by Zhang Juzheng in the Jiangnan region, and convert all the in-kind taxes collected in the Jiangnan region into silver taxes. Then, he would build Zhili Shanghai Prefecture into a special Zhili Prefecture with more financial attributes than the Beijing Special District, making it the new center of the Jiangnan region, so that the court could more easily control the entire Jiangnan region by controlling Zhili Shanghai Prefecture.

Therefore, the subsequent development of Zhili Shanghai Prefecture was also an important event in the first few years of Zhu Zaigui's accession to the throne!

He had to make Zhili Shanghai Prefecture stand out, and at the same time further relax the maritime ban, make the sea route between Shanghai and Tianjin a daily routine, and thus further strengthen communication between the north and the south.

This enabled the imperial court to reach Shanghai and other important places in Jiangnan more easily and conveniently, thus achieving greater administrative efficiency.

Otherwise, if the Zhili Shanghai Prefecture was allowed to expand and the court's control over it was as loose as that over ordinary prefectures, what would happen?

Therefore, before the development of railways and other means of transportation and information, Zhu Zaigui had to open up sea transportation between the north and the south as much as possible, and make the connection between the two places closer through more frequent trade exchanges.

In this way, no matter how great the influence and power of Zhili Shanghai Prefecture was, it would not be possible for it to easily break away from the direct control of the imperial court in Beijing and become a major threat in the future.

Therefore, at some point in the future, the prefect of Shanghai Prefecture under the Zhili Government might not only be given a high-ranking official of the second rank like the governor, but might even be assigned a "grand scholar" who would come to Beijing regularly to participate in decision-making.

As for whether the future Grand Secretaries who hold important positions in local areas will continue to have the title of Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet, or learn from the "Assistant Grand Secretaries" created by the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Zaigui also has to think carefully about it.

After all, the division of political power cannot be achieved on a whim; it must be done based on actual needs.

Otherwise, if the rights and responsibilities are not clear, the system is not clear, and things go wrong or fail, then there will be big trouble.

Zhu Zaigui did not explain the economic logic of this to Emperor Jiajing in detail. After all, some things are difficult to understand and cannot be figured out by relying on inertial thinking.

You must have enough knowledge and experience.

Although Emperor Jiajing was not lacking in knowledge and experience in this era, his understanding of financial economics was far inferior to that of Zhu Zaigui.

Therefore, instead of letting Zhu Zaigui explain it to him in great detail, it would be more efficient and practical to let him actually read it.

Moreover, the current emperor was no longer Emperor Jiajing, and Zhu Zaigui did not have to write a long memorial to explain the reasons and purposes to Emperor Jiajing as he had done before.

Now Zhu Zaigui only needed to hand over his intentions and ideas to the ministers of the cabinet and let them execute them. Of course, if the execution was not good, Zhu Zaigui would either have to find a minister of the cabinet to take the blame, or he would have to take the blame himself.

And this is the relationship between power and responsibility.

Just because you have power doesn't mean you can really pass on the blame.

Because sometimes, there are some responsibilities that really can't be shaken off.

Even if it was thrown away at that time, the blame will come back when history comes to reckoning, and the blame that comes back at this time cannot be thrown away just like that.

If you take the blame at this time, it may cause you to be infamous for eternity and you will never be able to get rid of it.

Just like Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou of the Southern Song Dynasty, when he was in power, he could put all the blame on Qin Hui and let Qin Hui bear all the blame for betraying his country for personal gain.

But after him, when history draws its conclusion on him, although Qin Hui cannot escape the blame, the blame and responsibility he originally threw away will reappear and be pinned on him, putting all the responsibility and blame that he once tried so hard to throw away on him, thus turning him into a historical villain.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui is now very clear about how he will be evaluated in history in the future. It will not depend on how many blames and responsibilities he throws off, but on how many problems he can solve and what kind of era he can create.

As long as he can do these two things well, even if he is slandered in his own time, history will still give him justice when everything is settled.

It is just like Emperor Yongzheng in the original historical trajectory. Although he was criticized a lot during his thirteen years in power, he was also criticized terribly for a period of time after his death.

But when all the historical dust settles, when everyone looks at his achievements and politics during his reign with a fair and objective eye, history will naturally give him a fair reward.

All the dirt and black spots that were once pinned on him will fade away one by one, leaving behind the image of a political tough guy who is "strong and unyielding in his determination", and the evaluation of the Qing Dynasty will also be slightly higher.

It can be seen that history is sometimes so fair and will never really bury the past.

After leaving Wanshou Palace, Zhu Zaigui rode in a sedan chair and leisurely returned to Wenhua Palace.

And just when he returned to Wenhua Palace, a minister could not help but come to ask for a meeting.

Zhu Zaigui, who was in a good mood at this time, would certainly not refuse his ministers' request for a meeting, so Meng Chong summoned the ministers who wanted to see him into the Wenhua Hall.

"I, Wang Shizhen, Director of the Ministry of War, pay my respects to Your Majesty."

Wang Shizhen was also a great writer in the Ming Dynasty. According to the original historical trajectory, he would now either be serving as the Deputy Censor of Shandong and the Military Commissioner of Qingzhou, or as the Left Councillor of Zhejiang.

However, because Zhu Zaigui changed the course of history, the life trajectory of this great writer deviated a bit. He is still wandering around the capital, and has served in the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War. Now he has only risen to the sixth rank as the head of the Ministry of War.

However, this is already a not-so-small official position. If such Beijing officials were allowed to go to local places, they would at least be promoted three or four levels on the spot.

Therefore, the rank of a sixth-rank Beijing official like Wang Shizhen, who was a Jinshi graduate, cannot be judged by the rank of local officials.

Moreover, he can now ask for an audience with the emperor in Wenhua Palace, which shows that his ability is indeed stronger than that of ordinary officials.

"Be flat."

Zhu Zaigui put down the red brush in his hand, said something casually, glanced at Wang Shizhen and let him get up.

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Ask for monthly ticket~~~(End of this chapter)