Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 247 Mathematical Skills in Ming Politics

In the more than twenty years after Zhang Juzheng's death, the influence he left on the Ming Dynasty has never disappeared.

In the first month of the fourth year of Taichang, this influence was officially picked up from the first day, and received a fateful amplification on the ninth day with the death of Emperor Wanli.

Zhu Yijun's last wish before his death was heard with personal ears by important officials in the court.

He wanted his Master Zhang to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. This was the result of more than three years of self-reflection by the paralyzed and speechless Emperor Taishang. It was his final conclusion on his gains and losses in his life in his last moments of reflection.

At least Zhang Juzheng's merits far outweigh his faults, and at least he did not commit such a serious crime.

His reputation has been restored, but how should we redefine the right and wrong in government affairs during the decade from Zhang Siwei's rise to power to the new emperor's accession to the throne?

For example: Should the "Regulations on Preferential Treatment and Exemption" revised in the 14th year of Wanli be overturned?
The Emperor was still in mourning, and the matter would not reach the stage for discussion for at least twenty-seven days.

But Wang Xijue had already discussed it with Shen Shixing.

Because of a speech in the Cining Palace, Shen Shixing was retained again.

Although from then on he was only a position to compile Veritable Records and Taiyue Gongji and did not have to interfere in state affairs, what Wang Xijue wanted was to find the policy basis from the first year of Wanli to the twenty-eighth year of Wanli.

"I remember that at that time, Rumo was the first in the cabinet, Weizhen was the second, and I was the last."

That was the twelfth year of the Wanli reign, and Wang Xijue was still in his hometown mourning the death of his father.

Wang Xijue sneered and said, "At that time, Li Zhi and others thought that I was really at odds with Taiyue Gong, so they all recommended me to join the cabinet. They never thought that after I joined the cabinet, I would drive them out of the court."

Shen Shixing sighed and said, "'Jiang Ling's career as prime minister is also impressive, we should protect him less to preserve the state', that's what Brother Yuan Yu said."

"Then there was a proposal to revise the rules for preferential treatment and exemptions in the Ming Dynasty Code." Wang Xijue looked at Shen Shixing. "In the end, the ministry's discussion seemed to be no different from the 24th year of Jiajing. The number of exempted men was the same, but the original exemption of three liters of grain per mu was changed to an exemption of land."

Shen Shixing fell silent.

"I remember Rumo said: the exemption refers to the ding liang, not the corvée. Now, the ding liang is compared with the miscellaneous corvée, making the common people wear the same clothes and make the scholars laugh at the common people. Isn't it a little bit different from the deep grace of the sages who nurtured the scholars and the kindness of the wise ministers who care for the country?"

Shen Shixing sighed.

He looked up at Wang Xijue, poured him tea, and then cupped his hands: "Since I have been retained, why should Brother Yuan Yu worry too much?"

Wang Xijue drank the cup of tea silently and did not continue to reveal the past.

The preferential treatment for gentry in the Ming Dynasty was a process that was first gradually misinterpreted and expanded in terms of definition, and then infinitely magnified in terms of execution.

Taizu also exempted the gentry from taxes, but he never exempted them from land tax. He only exempted the corvée labor.

Initially, the Ding labor service consisted of only the Lijia labor service and the county labor service, but later on the labor service gradually became more complicated.

Within Jun Yao, more and more miscellaneous disciplines were separated out.

The characteristic of miscellaneous rules is that there are no rules, and the time and quantity may be uncertain.

Later on, corvée labor could be replaced by paying taxes or by hiring people to do the labor in the county.

The secret revealed by Wang Xijue was exactly the same point of view that Shen Shixing used when evaluating preferential treatment and exemption.

The only thing that has been exempted is the adult labor tax, which is only a very small part of the current corvée labor and has nothing to do with the land tax.

Shen Shixing believed that Dingliang and miscellaneous corvée labor should not be confused, and he also made it clear that the exemption was limited to Dingliang, but the final result was that the exemption of Dingliang was changed to exemption of Dinglan.

Where is the gap?

That is, although there was no clear definition of the tax burden based on the amount of land, the taxes and labor service borne by each male person were actually several times the amount of the grain tax itself.

If it is still calculated based on the preferential tax exemption for male adults, at least the rule on the surface is to calculate based on clear numbers, and it can also be clearly calculated based on the male adult tax, a sub-item that is borne by all the Yao people.

But if we calculate according to the exemption of male labor and land tax, then firstly, there is no such thing in the tax collection category, and secondly, the result of the implementation process is that both male labor and land tax will be eliminated.

Moreover, the standard of “three liters of tax exemption per mu of land” is also debatable.

The ratio may seem low, but it can cover a larger number of acres of land.

This is the math of politics.

Shen Shixing finished his tea before continuing, "There's no need to worry now. Brother Yuan Yu, how long can you stay healthy?"

Wang Xijue's face turned pale with anger: "You Mo think I am greedy for credit? I just want to die!"

"I said the same thing again. Since I'm staying here, why should Brother Yuan Yu worry too much?" Shen Shixing smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Let's first implement the current preferential exemptions! Your Majesty has already made an order, and you and I are both clear about it. Now, it's time to clarify the right and wrong of the past twenty years and reach a public opinion. The Imperial Academy must innovate, and the Imperial College must wait until the first batch of students who enrolled last year have completed their studies. In addition, even if the exemption of land for male vassalage is changed back to exemption of grain for male vassalage, is it the best solution in your Majesty's mind? Is it the best solution for Ming Dynasty?"

Wang Xijue calmed down a little and started to think carefully.

"Your Majesty is willing to make major changes to the central government, criticize the current Confucianism, and confer titles on three marquises and five earls. Is it to achieve the full success of Taiyuegong's new policy?" Shen Shixing looked into Wang Xijue's eyes and said leisurely, "You underestimate your Majesty's ambition. Your Majesty respects Taiyuegong, and your Majesty also respects Confucius and the ancient sages. But even though your Majesty respects them, how does your Majesty comment on Confucianism?"

Wang Xijue looked at Shen Shixing and didn't speak for a long time.

Shen Shixing sighed helplessly: "The emperor before and after the twelfth year of Wanli was not the emperor on the ninth day of the first lunar month. The Shen Shixing of today is not the prime minister of that time. Now that you are in charge of the Administrative Council, you should make overall plans. You should think more before you act rashly."

During that period, the right and wrong of the government were mixed with the right and wrong of their friendship.

Now the two are from the same hometown, the same department, and colleagues. The younger one has been the head of the civil officials for a longer time, and the older one is now in a more important position. Shen Shixing simply said: I met the Wanli Emperor in such a mental state at the beginning, what could I do? Now although you are in line with the emperor's wishes, you are probably not as comprehensive and far-sighted as Zhang Juzheng, and you are probably not as comprehensive and far-sighted as me.

What are you anxious about? Do you think the emperor is anxious?
At this moment in the Forbidden City, Zhu Zaiyu, as a clan relative already in Beijing and a person who could have become the King of Zheng, also went to the Jiyan Hall to pay his respects.

The emperor stayed in the Yangxin Palace these days and invited him to talk.

In addition to the third brother who was imprisoned in Fengyang, Zhu Changluo also had three younger brothers, the fifth, sixth and seventh. Over at the Jiyan Hall, they had been keeping vigil, and Zhu Changluo only went there when it was time to go.

In the eyes of Empress Dowager Li, managing the Ming Dynasty well was his greatest filial piety.

Zhu Changluo asked Zhu Zaiyu to sit down, then looked at him and said, "Uncle, you should also take care of yourself."

"...Your Majesty, please accept my condolences." Zhu Zaiyu thought that he was seeing himself and was moved by the scene.

Zhu Changluo sighed, "Among the Hundred Family Gardens, my uncle should teach more good students. I know that my uncle likes music the most, but I hope that my uncle will carry forward the way of mathematics the most."

Zhu Zaiyu was stunned. He didn't expect that the emperor summoned him mainly to assign him work.

"These days, I've been spending my days looking at the memorials and petitions that have been submitted one after another." Zhu Changluo sighed, "Looking at the numbers and the accounts makes me dizzy."

"Your Majesty, please do not hurt your body." Zhu Zaiyu looked at him, hesitated for a moment and said, "If you want to relieve your stress, it would be good to walk around for a while."

Zhu Changluo shook his head: "This problem has troubled me for a long time. After thinking about it, I still want to entrust this topic to my uncle."

"…I wonder what the topic is?"

"It's related to taxes." Zhu Changluo thought for a moment and said, "Abacus is used everywhere nowadays. I heard that my uncle made a big abacus himself, with 9981 levels and double rows?"

"Your Majesty is also proficient in abacus?" Zhu Zaiyu asked in surprise.

"I just asked a little bit." Zhu Changluo certainly wasn't proficient in it. "What bothers me now is the various calculations and amortizations of taxes, and the many remainders after that, as well as the accounting method. I wonder if my uncle has heard of Hai Gangfeng's 'flowing number formula' and the flow multiplication method?"

“…That’s not the case.”

"Then I'll start from here..."

Zhu Zaiyu was a genius with strong mental arithmetic ability. In order to verify the average temperament in phonetics by himself, he made a double-row 81-level abacus which was much larger than an ordinary abacus.

But his was purely "academic calculation", while Hai Rui summarized some applied mathematics from a practical perspective.

What Zhu Changluo wanted to find a systematic solution to was a difficult problem that many officials in all dynasties wanted to solve.

Because in the Ming Dynasty's tax system, the three major backgrounds of collection in kind, conversion and allocation, and constant total amount led to an extremely serious problem: many, many digits after the decimal point.

As many as a dozen is common.

For example, based on the amount of land surveyed and the proportion of land tax to be levied, how much land tax each county should pay has been determined, right? This is the total amount.

Then, according to the different levels and sizes of the fields, we need to count each piece of land and each family with clear ownership.

When collecting taxes, there is a conversion ratio, such as how much silver and how much in kind.

Each county also had various other taxes, such as fodder, reeds, silk...

Some taxes are levied on a provincial basis, and then the tax is further distributed down the line.

In the end, it often involves many multiplications and divisions.

During the process of surveying the land in Chun'an County, Hai Rui actually sorted out the multiplication method himself and made up a formula for fluxions, mainly to make it easier for his subordinates to do things and to let the people know clearly.

The basic mathematics level of the grassroots officials of the Ming Dynasty is "touching", not to mention the common people.

The vast number of remainders after the decimal point is not only a headache for officials, but also a "technical field" for them to manipulate.

If Zhu Changluo wanted to further reform the tax system, he first needed a set of mathematical methods and accounting methods as support.

So now he entrusted this project to Zhu Zaiyu.

"Nowadays, various places have calculated the flow and leap years, so that the subsequent summary calculations will be much faster, but this is still a big problem." Zhu Changluo summarized the current local practices and put forward requirements, "First, mathematics needs a set of standard terms so that the whole country can follow. Secondly, how to keep accounts also requires a set of standard accounting terms for statistics. Finally, whether it is abacus, mental arithmetic, or oral arithmetic, it is best to do it like Hai Gangfeng, but simpler, and compile arithmetic formulas and songs, just like the Nine Nines Song, which is easy for beginners to learn."

Of course, the multiplication table has existed for a long time, and Chinese mathematics has a long history.

But after Zhu Yijun helped him to draw up the pie of having the right to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Zhu Changluo really didn't need to be so anxious.

For many big problems, we need to start preparing from the root.

The most difficult problem in tax collection is that ordinary people have no idea how much they should pay. It is different every year, and every year they can only listen to the next number from above. Although the overall fluctuation is not large, the core problem is that people don’t know how much it should be and how to calculate it.

This creates room for execution.

Zhu Changluo might be able to solve this problem through institutional design later, but if mathematics is an obstacle, the space at the execution level will still exist and be very large.

Zhu Zaiyu knew the importance of his topic, and he asked in astonishment: "...Your Majesty, this matter is so important, I...isn't this considered meddling in government affairs?"

(End of this chapter)